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: "Mr. Benjamin" <info.benvusi@benvusi.com>
Reply-To: benvusi1@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 15:54:44 +0400
Subject: HELLO///




Hello,
I am writing following an opportunity in my office that will be of immense
benefit to both of us. I am Mr. Benjamin Vusi manager/financial
consultant; in my department we discovered an abandoned large sum of money
US$14.7M belonging to one of our Foreign Client, a national of your
country, a Geophysicist by profession who used to work as a
contractor/consultant in South Africa. On the 25th of January 2005, my
client and his family were involved in a boat mishap in Cape Town; the
entire occupant lost their life. No body to claim the fund left behind.

Since then I have made several enquiries here to locate any of my clients
extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several
unsuccessful attempts, I decided to search through with his last name
(Surname) which motivated me to contact you, to locate any member of his
family hence I contacted you. I have contacted you to assist in
repatriating the huge fund left behind by my client before it gets
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank. If it continues to
float in the account the government will eventually confiscate it. The
Bank has issued me (as my late client's personal banker/accountant) a
notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confiscated within
the next two month.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over two
years now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the
deceased since you have the same last names(the same surname), so that the
proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Therefore, on receipt of your
positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities
for transfer. I have all necessary information and legal documents needed
to back you up for claim.

All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this
transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
Please kindly reply to this email benvusi1@yahoo.com.hk

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Benjamin Vusi



Anti-fraud resources: