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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
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• 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:
  • "tax clearance" (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. )
  • "clearance certificate" (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. )
  • "affidavit " (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "foreign exchange" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
  • "tax clearance" (Tax offices mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. Even after you pay their fake tax demands you will still not receive the non-existent funds you have been promised. )
• 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.
  • +447024086241 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: "James Mark" <jamesmark.0001@yahoo.com.cn>
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:34:51 -1200
Subject: FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Dear Frank,

Thank you for your urgent response to my email
regarding the matter of becoming the Next Of Phillip
Moore, who died in the Hejce- bomb blast here in
Hungary. I would have called you but you did not
include your phone number as I instructed.
All the same you can call me on my private
confidential phone number.....+36 1 999 4617 OR
my UK number, while in UK +44 702 408 6241


I wish to take my time here to adequately explain the
process with which we intend to achieve the positive
end point of this deal successfully but before then it
is also necessary to give you the basic conditions,
which should hold before commencement of the deal in
question, and they are listed below.
1: That you keep this deal in absolute confidence,
which means that you inform nobody no matter who about
this deal until we have completed, this is very
important.

2: That you give me your personal assurance that when
this funds get into your account, you will not sit on
it and leave me in the cold because then there will be
nothing I can do to you because legally, you would
have been accepted by the bank as the legal
beneficiary to the account and there is no where I can
seek legal redress except we sign a written agreement
now before the commencement of the deal.


3: That you know now that you will be responsible to
deal with the bank directly (with my advice of course)
and my capacity in the total deal will be just your
legal representative just like I represented my late
client whom we will be passing off as your uncle in
the course of the deal.

Now to begin the explanation of the process. First of
all, I will be sending you an application of claim,
which is attached to this email, and you are to
complete it, endorse and fax to the bank on a number,
which I will provide when we have agreed on all counts
and decide to proceed, this application you will send
to the director of operations, K&H - Kereskedelmi and Hitel
Bank Budapest office, asking for the claim of this funds
and when the bank receives this, the first thing they
would do from personal experience is to contact you
asking for relevant proof to your claim and they would
do this by asking for certain documents like the of
probate and administration certificate of the late
depositor my late client, an affidavit to prove you
are actually related to him sworn in a court here in ,
certain mandatory papers required by the government of
Hungary for transfer of funds like the income tax clearance
certificate, an exchange control approval which is a form of
permission from the Ministry Of Finance here in
Hungary required before any transfer of foreign
exchange is made .

I will pass them to you for your onward forwarding to
the officials of the bank and I believe with this , a
definite transfer date will be fixed and I hope to
come down there two days before this transfer date to
safeguard my share of the funds.

Please do not hesitate to ask any questions so that on
commencement of the deal, we would not make any
mistakes.

I will wait for your call and response to this email.

Regards.

James Mark

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam