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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: "Barrister Rickey Tarfa" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rickeytarfa@rickeytarfa.eu>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 17:40:31 -0800
Subject: DEARS SIR,PLS READ

Dear Sir/Madam
 
I am Mr. Rickey Tarfa, Legal Practitioners and notary public. I am contacting on a very
confidential issue which involves transfer of a huge sum of money from a deceased
account. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one
apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that everything has been well taken care
of, and all will be well at the end of the day. I decided to contact you due to the
urgency of this transaction and its confidentiality.
 
I am an attorney to Late Mr. Tom Hopkins, an American Oil Contractor based in United Arab
Emirates who died in an air crash along with his wife and 3 kids on the 31st October 1999
in an Egyptian airline 990 with other passengers on board. The Egypt Airline 990 which
took off from JFK International Airport, New York was on its way to Dubai ,United Arab
Emirates reroute Cairo, Egypt when it crash into the Atlantic Ocean killing everybody on
board.
 
During his life time the Late Mr. Tom Hopkins operates an offshore account with a Bank
and as his trusted attorney I am privy to the depositand it contains a total of
28,231,000
Twenty Eight Million Two Hundred and Thirty One Thousand U.S.Dollars Only.
 
Since his death, his bankers have severally contacted me to present Late Mr. Tom
Hopkins next of kin who will apply and claim the above stated deposited contained in his
account but the problem is that Late Mr. Tom Hopkins died along with his family in the
plane crash and all effort to trace any other members of his family has proved abortive.
 
My problem now is that his bankers contacted me few days ago and informed me that if by
the end of this year and Late Mr. Tom Hopkins next of kin do not apply to claim this
deposit , that the money will be called back to the bank treasury as unclaimed bills and
confiscated as the law allows banks to keep such deposit for only 10 years after which
the bank can confiscate the deposit and return same to the Government.
 
It is on this note I decided to seek for whom his name shall be used as the next of
kin/beneficiary to this funds rather than allow the bank directors to share this money
amongst them at the end of the year. It may interest you to know that I have secured from
the probate an order of mandamus to locate any of the deceased beneficiaries.
 
It is on this note I now seek your permission to have you stand as a next of kin to the
deceased, as all documentations portraying you as the next of kin to late Mr. Tom Hopkins
will be carefully worked out by me on receipt of the below requirements from you.
REQUIREMENT:
 
1. Your Full Name, Address and Direct Telephone/Fax for our personal Contacts.
 
2)Your full banking details where you want the money to be transfer to(Bank
Name,Address,Account Name, Account Number, Swift Code,ABA or IBAN Number)
 
I shall be compensating you with 30% of the total sum on final conclusion of this project
for your assistance.
 
Do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you by informing you of this
transaction as I will advise you to kindly desist from responding at all if you do not
intend to render any assistance.
 
Thanks and best regards,
 
Mr. Rickey Tarfa
Rickey Tarfa & co
Legal Practitioners and notary public
Email:rickeytarfa@rickeytarfa.eu
Tel No:+44-7035-947517

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