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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:
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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)
  • "million 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)
  • "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
• This email message is a "dying widow" 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.
  • mrsjoyceballo88@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
  • 3amrsjoyceballo88@gmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: mrsjoyce ballo <mrsjoyceballo003@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrsjoyceballo88@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 1 Jul 2009 23:51:50 -0700
Subject: Dear Friend


*Dear Friend

Greetings in the name of God,Pls let this not sound strange to you for my
only surviving lawyer who would have done this died early this year.

i prayed and got your email id from your country guestbook. I am MRS JOYCE
BALLO from London,I am 58 years old,i am suffering from a long time cancer
of the lungs which also affected my brain,from all indication my conditions
is really deteriorating and it is quite obvious that, according to my
doctors they have advised me that i may not live for the next two
months,this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage.

I was brought up from a motherless babies home was married to my late
husband for twenty years without a child,my husband died in a fatal motor
accident Before his death we were true believers.Since his death I decided
not to re-marry,I sold all my inherited belongings and deposited all the sum
of 10million dollars with a First Inland Bank.

Presently, this money is still with them and the management just wrote me as
the true owner to come forward to receive the money for keeping it so long
or rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my
behalf since I can not come over because of my illness or they get it
confisticated.

Presently, I'm with my laptop in a hospital here in Switzerland where I
have been undergoing treatment for cancer of the lungs. my doctors have told
me that I have only a few months to live.It is my last wish to see that this
money is invested to any organisation of your choice and distributed each
year among the charity organization,the poor and the motherless babies home.


I want you as God fearing person, to also use this money to fund
church,mosque, orphanages and widows,I took this decision, before i rest in
peace because my time will so on be up.

As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the First
Inland Bank.I will also issue you a letter of authority that will prove you
as the new beneficiary of my fund.

Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein. Hoping to
hear from you soon. NAME: __________SURNAME:__________________SEX: _____
AGE: ______MARITAL: _______________COUNTRY: ______
CONTACT ADDRESS: ________________________PHONE NO#___________FAX
NO#_________________OCCUPATION:
______________
waiting for you information
reply:me through this my private email
address:mrsjoyceballo88@gmail.com <address%3Amrsjoyceballo88@gmail.com>

MRS.JOYCE BALLO
*

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam