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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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• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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:
  • "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)
  • ",000,000" (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)
  • "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)
  • "a reliable and reputable person to handle this" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• 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.
  • +447031911701 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Bruce Smith" <brusithx@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:24:53 -0700
Subject: Urgent Attention.


Dear,
Good day, I must Firstly solicit your time and patience I am Mr.
Bruce Smith, a Solicitor at Law. A National of Scotland base and
practice in London. I am the personnel attorney and adviser on
monetary and personal, secret matters to Chief (Mrs.) Stella Obasanjo,
now (late) the (First Lady) to the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

My client died in Marbella Hospital in Malaga Spain, of complications
arising from cosmetic surgery to reduce fat from her body on Saturday
22nd October 2005. I came to know you in my private search for a
reliable and reputable person to handle this Confidential Transaction,
I must solicit your confidence in this transaction, and 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, due to the level of fraud around now, but I
am assuring that this is real and genuine. This involves the transfer
of a huge sum of money. ($45,000,000) (Fourth Five Million US Dollar).
To a foreign account requiring maximum confidence. Your response
permits me to introduce my proposed plans and aid.

Thanks. Bruce Smith (Esq.)
Phone: +447031911701

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam