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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
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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:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: umar usman <umar_usman_boa025@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <umar_usman_bankofafrica@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 13:54:36 +0000
Subject: STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL/URGENT ASSISTANCE NEEDED



Dear Friend, I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we have never met before, but need not to worry as I am using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for your foreign assistance in a business. I am contacting you independently of my investigation and no one is informed of this communication. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $11.3million immediately to your private account. The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for nine good years now without anybody coming for the claim of it. I want to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the account owner) who died a long with his supposed NEXT OF KIN since August 1997.The Banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than 10 years, because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund. Upon receipt of your reply, indicating your interest in this transaction, I will send you full details on how the business will be executed. Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not interested. Regards, Umar Usman Bank Of Africa,Burkina Faso-West Africa
_________________________________________________________________
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam