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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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• 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)
  • "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
  • "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• 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.
  • anyaoku2020@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: anyaoku <zm924wdjex@testzimbra.com>
Reply-To: "anyaoku2020@sify.com" <anyaoku2020@sify.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2008 08:47:49 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT


FROM THE DESK OF;
MR,O A.anyaoku
ECOBANK OF NIGERIA
MAITION DE ECOBANK PLC,
2,WUSE ZONE ABUJA
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA.
Private address,<anyaoku2020@sify.com>
Dear Friend,
I am MR,O A.anyaoku, A staff of ECO BANK,in the department of bills
and exchange at the foreign remittance Department, of Eco bank of
Nigeria plc.
In my department, we discovered an abandoned sum of (US$ 20.5m)
Twenty Million , Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollar only, in
an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died
along with his entire family in November 2003 in a plane crash.For more
information on the plane crash log on to
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3348109.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 somebody applies as a next of kin or relation to
the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.
Unfortunately we learn that his supposed next of kin or relations
died along with him at the crash leaving nobody behind for the
claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials
in the department now decided to make business with you, that is, to
release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the
decease since nobody is fronting for the money and we do not
want this fund to go into disbursement account as unclaimed bill.
The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that if such money
remained unclaimed after six years the money will be transferred into
federal government account as unclaimed fund.
The request of a foreigner as next of kin in this business is
occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and an
indgene can not stand as a next of kin to a foreigner. We agreed
that 40% of this money will be for you as the foreign partner and 10%
for expenses incurred during the cost of remittance.
Therefore to enable immediate transfer of the fund to you as
arranged, you should contact me on my private ! e-mail address here for
security reasons.
And you should contact me immediately for further briefing:
{anyaoku2020@sify.com}
I look forward to hearing from you soon as you must Include your
personal data such as:
{1} Phone and fax numbers
{2} Bank account
{3} Your full name and address
May god bless you as you respond to this. I await your prompt response.
Regards,
MR,O A.anyaoku,
Foreign Remittance Dept.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam