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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• 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:
  • "trunk box" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "trunk boxes" (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)
  • "keep this confidential" (they don't want anyone to point out to you that this is a scam)
  • "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned 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: "MR ARMED COMBO" <armedco1@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: armedcombo1@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 11:11:33 +0100
Subject: Mr Armed Combo

Dear Sir,

I am Comrade Armed COMBO one time veteran of the
Liberia Peace Movement,and also a first cousin to the
deposed President of Liberia, Charles Taylor,who is
now on trial for crimes against humanity for his involvement
in the sierraleonian crisis.

At a certain point
during the reign of my cousin,Charles Taylor.I was
incharge of all Diamod operations coming from
Angola,Sierra Leone,etc.Then Charles Taylor enjoyed
the patronage of the rebels controlling parts of
these countries,as tonnes of uncut diamond were
shipped to him,and he inturn through me sold these
diamonds to foreigners, and used the proceeds to buy
arms for the rebels in these countries,and a large
chunk of this money was for the enrichment of the
rebel leaders.Literally speaking he gave cover to the
rebel Leaders.This operation was code named : Conflict
Diamond.I cordinated the entire Diamond trade in the
sub region and this ran into hundreds of Million of
Dollars.

While carrying out this operation I was able to divert
the sum of 6.5million usd dollars for my personal benefit,and
this is contained in 1 trunk boxes and deposited as
artifacts in a finance bank in Europe.This is
only known to you and me and I hope you will keep this
confidential.

Now that Charles Taylor is no more in Power I thought
it wise to move the money out from the bank in europe to any personal account for investment purposes .Now I am contacting you
seeking your assistance to help me in transfering this
money to your country and personal account.All you need do is to make
necesary arrangement and contact the concerned bank whose contacts details will be made known to you later.
Contact me on ths email above.The time is ripe
and the time is now.

Best Regards,

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam