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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:
  • "you will be given 30%" (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)
  • "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• 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.
  • email.a_dama_toure@yahoo.fr

Fraud email example:

From: e e <adamaadama3@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <a_dama_toure@yahoo.fr>
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:27:49 +0100
Subject: Dear Sir,



Dear Sir,

I wish to inform you that this mail should be handled as a very important one and treated seriously. We want to transfer to an overseas account the sum of $6,250.000.00 (Six million two hundred and fifty thousand United States Dollars)from a prime Bank here in Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire.In contacting you, I am convinced that you can handle this transaction to the satisfaction of all parties involved.

I am Mr. Toure Innocent, working in one of the banks here in Abidjian Cote d'Ivoire.I am the accounts officer to the account of Mr. Pierre Jeanclaude, a French national who was killed by the rebels due to his support for this present government. During a routine check on files in my department, I discovered that the owner of the account died without a next of kin. He was a divorcee which proves to me that nobody knows about the existence of such account or the amount in it. If we do not remit this fund out immediately it will be forfeited to the bank as unclaimed fund if the management of the bank knows about his death and the status of the account and the amount involved.This is a normal policy of banks here.I guarantee you that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 30% of the total amount
I look forward to your earliest reply.
Best Regards,
Mr. Toure Innocent
Email.a_dama_toure@yahoo.fr
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam