joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Mike Rod" <microdd743@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: mmrod56@excite.com
Date: Wed, 08 Nov 2006 13:16:03 +0000
Subject: {Spam?}

Hello Friend,

I am Mike Rod,staff of SMITH & WILLIAMSON Private Banking. I am contacting
you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our
banks management three years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep
the contents of this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the
information you come by as a result of this mail.I am making this contact
with you based on the committee's need for an individual/company who is
willing to assist me to stand as the next of kin to my deceased client.


Being the deceased financial consultant before the untimely and sudden death
and since i am the only one who has the knowledge where these funds
($30million) was moved to when the deceased demanded it be moved from our
office SMITH &WILLIAMSON to a security company,i can move this deal forward
to it's successful end once we conclude to work together.What I expect from
you is trust and commitment.There is a reward for this project and it is a
task well worth undertaking.According to practice, the Security firm will by
the end of this financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim
to SMITH & WILLIAMSON Private Bank, failing to receive viable claims they
will most probably revert the deposit back to SMITH & WILLIAMSON Private
Bank. What I propose now is that if you are the relative to my client please
let me know. I alone have the deposit details and they will release the
deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the
existence of this deposit for as far as SMITH & WILLIAMSON Private Private
Bank is concerned, the transaction with our late customer concluded when I
sent the funds to the security firm, all outstanding interactions in
relation to the file are just customer services and due process. The
Security firm has no single idea of what is the history or nature of the
deposit. They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any
party that comes forward. This is the situation.

This bank has spent great amounts of money trying to track this man¡¦s
family; they have investigated for months and have found no family. The
investigation has come to an end. My proposal; you share similar details to
the late fellow; I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the
Securities firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving
relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with
you in half. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have
them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 50/50.I would have
gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a
straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. I assure you
that I could have the deposit released to you within a few days.

I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is for you to
betray my confidence.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Mike

_________________________________________________________________
Discover the magic of RSS feeds at MSN South Africa! http://za.msn.com/


Anti-fraud resources: