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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.

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.

Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!

Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "MRS. LARISA SOSNITSKAYA" <sosnitskayalarisa@msn.com>
Reply-To: mrslarisasosnitskaya@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 07 Oct 2005 14:56:58 +0000
Subject: PROMPT RESPONSE NEEDED.

Dear friend,

I am Mrs. Larisa Sosnitskaya personal assistant to Mikhail
Khodorkovsky once rated as the richest man in Russia and owner of
YUKOS OIL (Russian largest oil company), chairman CEO: Menatep SBP
Bank (a well reputable financial institution with its branches all
over the world).

SOURCE OF FUNDS:

I have a profiling amount in an excess of US$100.5Million, which I seek you
to accommodate for me. You will be rewarded with 10% of the total sum for
your partnership. Can you handle this? As his personal assistant, I was
authorized to transfer money of an American oil merchant for his last oil
deal with my boss Mikhail
Khodorkovsky. The funds have since left the shores of America to a European
private finance firm where the final crediting is to be carried out. While I
was on the process, my boss got arrested for his involvement in politics by
financing the leading and opposing political parties (the union of right
forces, led by Boris Nemtsov, and Yabloko, a liberal/social democratic party
led by Gregor Yavlinsky), which posed
as a threat to president Vladimir Putin second tenure as Russian
president. Since then, I have placed on hold all transactions
concerning this amount. You can catch more of the story on this
website:

http://www.yukos.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/3213505.stm
http://news.ft.com/cms/4bb9612a-d254-11d8-b661-00000e2511c8.html
http://www.hoovers.com/yukos/--ID__53700--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml
http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2003/11/13/51215.html

YOUR ROLE:

All I need from you is to stand as the beneficiary of the
abovementioned sum and I will re-profile the funds with your name,
which will enable the finance/bank release the sum to you. I have decided to
use this sum to relocate to the American continent and never to be connected
to any of Mikhail Khodorkovsky conglomerates. The transaction has to be
concluded soon and as I confirm your readiness to conclude the transaction
with me, I will provide you with details and my identity.

Thank you very much.

Regards,


Larisa Sosnitskaya.


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