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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Davidson Welsh" <welshd01@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 18:30:55 +0000
Subject: get back to me

Attn: Mr/Mrs/Miss,

Compliments of the day to you.I must solicit your confidentiality and assure
you that I am contacting you in good faith and that this proposal will be of
mutual benefit.

I am Mr. Davidson Welsh (Esq.), a legal practitioner. I am the personal
attorney to
Mr. Frank James an indigene of your country, who used to work with Shell
Petro-
chemical and Development Company in Nigeria. My client, late Mr. Frank James
was killed with his entire family in a fatal accident,sparing none of their
lives, some
years ago. Before his death, I assisted him in the deposit of some funds
with a
Security Company for safekeeping. The funds have remained unclaimed since
his
death, and such unclaimed funds are appropriated and returned to the
treasury as a
matter of policy. Considering the lack of success in my bid to locate any of
his
relatives for over a year now, I hereby solicit your consent to enable me
present you
as a distant relation and Next of Kin to my deceased client.

I am contacting you for two reasons. Firstly, you are a foreigner which
makes the
claim most credible. Secondly, I strongly believe that the Security Company
does
not deserve to inherit the funds. These reasons led to my resolve to claim
the funds
which was why I contacted you.

With your permission, I will proceed to establish you as the next of
kin/Beneficiary to my late client. As soon as this is done, you will
then give instructions to the Security Company, to transfer the deposited
funds into another account you will provide, after which we shall then share
the funds upon agreed terms. When I receive your response, I will provide
you
with further details.

I await your reply,

Best Regards,

Davidson Welsh Esq.

Please respond via my alternate email address : davidsonwelsh@myway.com


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