joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"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
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

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

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
  • "account opening form" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +2348038968350 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: williams eke <williamseke520@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <williamseke200@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 00:48:44 +0100
Subject: VERY URGENT



FROM MR.WILLIAMS EKE . AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT FOREIGN REMITTANCE DEPARTMENT UNION BANK PLC FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA TELEPHONE +2348038968350.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Mr.Williams Eke ,I am the auditing and accounting officer of Union BankPlc .I got your contact over the Internet in my searchfor the relatives of one of our numerous customers whodied alongside with his family in an air crash.

During the routine check in my branch, I discovered anabandoned sum of welve million Five hundred unitedstates dollars,(USD$12.5m). in an account belonging toan expatriate customer Mr.Lynn Roy Knutson, a miningconsultant/contractor with one of the leading oilcompany in Federal Republic of Nigera before hisaccidental death on Saturday 4Th May 2002 inNigeria via the ill-fated EAS Airline crash.You may visit the following websites to read moreabout the incident.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1968616.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1968300.stm http://www.usafricaonline.com/ngrkanocrash.html

Ever since then, valuable efforts have been made toget to his people but to no avail, as he had no knownrelatives and more so, he used his wife'sname as his next of kin in his account opening forms.I have been expecting his relatives to come over toclaim his money as it cannot be claimed unlesssomebody applies officially for it as his next of kinas indicated in our banking guide but no avail.Unfortunately, I discovered that his supposednext of kin (his wife and children) died with him overthe plane crash incident.

Over the years, I decided to look for the necessarypapers relating to the deposit in order to makebusiness out of it as the deposit was made inmy branch. Now that all papers are ready, I am askingfor your assistant to release the money to you as hisrelation/next of kin for safekeeping and subsequentdisbursement. I know that a transaction of thismagnitude will make any one apprehensive but I amassuring you of the Security of us all asmodalities have been perfected for a swift and smoothoperation.

You are being contacted because Since nobody showed upfor his money and I don't want it to go back intoFederal Republic Of Nigeria account as unclaimed billwhen the next audit is conducted. The banking law andguideline here stipulates that such money if remainunclaimed, will be transferred into banking treasuryas unclaimed effect. The request of a foreigner to actas next of kin in this business is occasioned by thefactthat the customer was a foreigne and a citizen ofFederal Republic Of Nigeria cannot stand as next ofkin to a foreigner.

I am ready to negotiate the mode of sharing with you.I will visit your country for thedisbursement/investing of my share according to thepercentages we shall agree upon after the successfultransfer of the money to your account.

I will not fail to bring to your notice that thistransaction is 100% hitch-free and that there isabsolutely no risk in it, having concluded themodalities for a smooth operation and my position inthe bank guarantees its successful execution. All Irequire is your honest co-operation, a guaranteeof your sincerity and capability to enable us concludethis deal.

Note however that the sensitive nature of thistransaction demands that you have to keep itabsolutely confidential.Please accept my apologies, keep my confidence anddisregard this letter if you do not appreciate thisproposition.

Thank you very much for your time.Yours faithfully,Best regards,

Mr.Williams Eke
_________________________________________________________________
Make every IM count. Download Windows Live Messenger and join the i’m Initiative now. It’s free. 
http://im.live.com/messenger/im/home/?source=TAGWL_June07

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam