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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:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
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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)
  • "atm payment department" (this phrase is often used in the ATM card payment scam)
  • "activation fee" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. Never ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
  • "huge amount 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)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
  • "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• This email message is a "New Partner from Paraguay" scam.
• 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.
  • +22993991335 (Benin, 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.
  • atm_office_card_payment@yahoo.fr

Fraud email example:

From: "leo ike" <leo_ike21@ig.com.br>
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2008 16:22:00 +0100
Subject: CONTACT ATM DEPARTMENT


Dear Friend,
This is to inform you about my success in transfering your money into an
ATM master card to curtail the risk of carrying huge amount of money
arround.We are the peole that coded this amount of money in the card and we
are going to tell you how to make use of it.Presently i'm out of the coutry
for investing my own part of the total money .
Meanwhile,i didn't forget your past efforts and attempts to assist me
in moving the cash despite that both of us could not make it.Now contact ATM
PAYMENT DEPARTMENT and their email address is(
atm_office_card_payment@yahoo.fr) ask them to send you the sum of eight
hundred and fifty thousand us dollars ( $850.000.00) in an ATM MASTER CARD
which i kept for your compensation for all the past efforts and attempts to
assist me in this matter.this card centre will send you an ATM card which
you will use to withdraw your money in any ATM machine in any part of the
world, the maximum is Five Thousand United State Dollars per day. I
appreciated your efforts at that time very much,So feel free and get in
touched with the ATM PAYMENT DEPARTMENT and instruct them on where to send
your total share of the money to you.
Therefore do not hesitate to contact Oceanic Bank Benin ATM payment
department centre and also re-confirm the following information as listed
below:

1. Full Name
2. Address were you want them to send the ATM card
3. Phone number (private)
4. Your age and current occupation
5. Country Name and Code

Forward the above inforamation to:
Dr. mike Williams,Director, ATM payment department Oceanic Bank Benin Benin
Republic. Direct line:+229-93-991-335,
Emails:(atm_office_card_payment@yahoo.fr)

Please do let me know immediately you receive it so that we can share the
joy together after all the sufferness at that time. In the moment, i am very
busy here investing with my new partner.Remember that you are going to pay a
reactivation fee and it is for the reactivation of your card against it's
expiry before the delivery is made.The reason for the reactivation fee is
that the account has been there for a long time while the government was
doing serious investigations on the right owner of the money before this
conclusion was made.

Finally, I have forwarded instructions to the DEPARTMENT to send the
Confirmable ATM MASTER CARD to you, so feel free to get in touch with the
DEPARTMENTand they will send the CARD to you without any delay. DO FAST AND
CONTACT THEM IMMEDIATELY OK?

Best Regards,
Barr.Leo Ike

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam