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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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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:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "your urgent reply" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
  • "contact me immediately" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Andreas Ruth" <andreasruth@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2006 09:09:09 +0000
Subject: Good Day


Dear Friend.

My name is Mr. Andreas Ruth, an audit. Officer in "GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL
BANK ESPAÑA "I am writing to following an opportunity in my office that will
be of immense benefit to both of us.

In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of €5.5 Million Euros (Five
Million Five Hundred thousand Euros) in an account that belong to one of our
foreign customers Late Mr. Frederick M Wong, an American who unfortunately
lost his life in the plane crash of Egyptian flight 990 which crashed on
Tuesday, November 2 1999, including his wife and only daughter. You can read
more about the crash by visiting this site which I got during my
investigation, please try to go through the site.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of
kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because we cannot release
it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased
as indicated in our banking guidelines.

Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter
died along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of
this fund behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I
and two other officials in this department now decided to make business with
you and release the money to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of the
funds for safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming
for it

We don't want this money to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed
bill. The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money
remained after Eight years the money will be transferred into banking
treasury as unclaimed funds.

We agreed that 35% of this money will be for you as foreign partner, while
the balance will be for my colleagues and me. I will visit your country for
the disbursement according to the percentages indicated above once this
money gets into your account please be honest to me.

Note this transaction is confidential and risk free. As soon as you receive
this message, you should contact me immediately with this telephone number
my email address is Please note that all necessary arrangement for
smooth release of these funds to you has been finalized. We will discuss
much in details when I do receive your response.

Thanks and waiting for your urgent reply

Mr.Andreas Ruth

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam