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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• 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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

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

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "into your nominated bank account" (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)
  • "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal - arrests of online criminals are rare)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +22508188984 (Cote d'Ivoire, probably a prepaid mobile phone)
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • dr.williams13challas@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "DR. WILLIAMS CHALLAS" <williams13challas@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 14:56:37 +0200
Subject: FROM DR. WILLIAMS CHALLAS.

Hello Dear,

I am Dr. Williams Challas, however i know you don't know me in person, but i will want you to bear with me after reading my mail, and be of good assistance to me. For your information, i am working in a Bank here in Cote D'Ivoire as the remittance director of our Bank. One Late Mr. John Donalson made a deposit of US$1,500,000. in our Bank, and since he died, nobody has come for the claims of the fund. So please i will want you to reply me with your full name and resident address together with your telephone and fax number, in order for me to appoint our Bank lawyer to change all the vital documents that covers the fund in your own name. So it will enable me to transfer the fund into your nominated Bank account. I want you to have it in mind that this transaction is 100% risk free. It will not cost you anything. When once the fund gets into your account i will give you 25% from the total fund.

Finally, you can call me through this number 00225 08 188 984 after reading my mail. Or you send me an email through my personal email: dr.williams13challas@yahoo.com

Best Regards,

Dr. Williams Challas.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam