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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)
  • "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "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" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
• This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: adamu ali <adamu_ali045@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <adamu_ali02@yahoo.fr>
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2008 09:57:05 +0100
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF MR ADAMU ALI



FROM THE DESK OF MR ADAMU ALIAUDITING AND ACCOUNTING MANEGER, BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) OUAGADOUGOU-BURKINA FASO. Dear Friend,

I am the manager of auditing and accounting at the foreign remittance department of BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of US$15m dollars (Fifteen Million US dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. ANDREAS SCHRANNER from Munich, Germany) who died along with his entire family in Jully 2000 in a plane crash.For more informations about the crash you can visit this site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm 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 some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidlings and laws 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 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 guidline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after nine years, the money will be transfered into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occassioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner. I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of a foriegn account ,10% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business and 60% would be for me Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you arranged,you must apply first to the bank as relation or next of kin of the deceased with a text of application that i will send to you,so i will like you to send to me 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 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, 1. NAME IN FULL:................................2. ADDRESS:.......................................3. NATIONALITY:...................................4. AGE:.............................................5. SEX..............................................6. OCCUPATION:......................................7. MARITAL STATUS:..................................8. PHONE............................................9. FAX:.............................................MR ADAMU ALI
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Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam