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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
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• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
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Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "this business is hitch free " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  

Fraud email example:

From: "MRS BOBBY WISDOM" <wisebovault@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: miswisevault@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:16:27 +0000
Subject: URGENT/CONFIDENTIAL.

DEAR Respected Friend,

I am the Manager Credit and Foreign Bills of STANDARD TRUST BANK OF GHANA . Am writing in respect of a foreign customer of my bank with account number D14-A55-096/GIB/D who perished in a plane crash(EGYPT-AIR BOEING 676-300) with the whole passengers aboard.

Since the demise of this our customer. I have personally watched with keen interest to see the next of kin but all has proved abortive as no one has come to claim his funds of US Dollar 28.5m,[twentyeight million five hundred thousand united states dollars] which has been with my branch for a very long time.

On this note, I decided to seek for whom his name shall be used as the Next of kin as no one has come up to be the next of kin.And the banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than Six years, because money will be recalled to the bank treasury as unclaimed after this period.

Inview of this I got your contact through a search on the Internet .I shall give you 40% of the total sum.I will not fail to bring to your notice that this business is hitch free and that you should not entertain any fear as all modalities for fund transfer can be finalized within five banking days, after you apply to the bank as a relation to the deceased.

When you receive this letter. Kindly send me e-mail to private email (miswisevault@ yahoo.com) signifying Your decisionincluding your private telephone/ fax numbers for quick communication.

Respectfully submitted,

MRS WISDOM BOBBY.
Manager,Credit and Foreign
Bills.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam