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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)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "may come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "huge sum of money" (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)
  • "million us 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)
  • "contact me immediately" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
  • "a reliable and reputable person to handle this" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
  • "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: raymond koffi <r_koffi22@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <raymond.koffi2007@voila.fr>
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2007 15:47:01 +0000
Subject: PERSONAL ATTENTION



FROM THE DESK OF MR. RAYMOND KOFFI. BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER, BANK OF AFRICA CI. ABIDJAN COTE DIVOIRE. E-mail: (raymond.koffi2007@voila.fr)

Dear Friend,
I know that this letter may come to you as a surprise but due to the urgency of this transaction.

First I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. There is no doubt that trust conceptually is a conundrum which leads itself to deferring interpretation, we have decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction.

I am the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of Bank of African (BOA). I came to know you in my private search for a reliable and reputable person to handle this Confidential Transaction, which involves the transfer of a huge sum of money to a foreign account requiring maximum confidence.

I am writing to you, following the impressive information received about you from the chambers of commerce. I believed that you are capable and reliable to champion this business opportunity. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of US$20 ( Twenty Million US Dollars). In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family On 31th July, 2000.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin 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 but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in my department now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill.

The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after ten years, the money will be transferred into the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Citizen of Abidjan cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.

We agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10 % will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 60 % would be for me and my colleagues. Thereafter my colleagues and I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated.

Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relations or next of kin of the deceased indicating your bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will be remitted.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear, as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.

Trusting to hear from you immediately.

Yours faithfully,
Raymond KoffiBill and exchange manager, Bank of African B. O. A
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam