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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: Desmond Kwabina <kwabina_d@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: desondkwabina_tg@lawyer.com
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 10:54:53 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I NEED YOU ASSISTANT




Hello  Dear, 




I am Mr.  Desmond Kwabina, a legal practitioner, I am the personal attorney
to a national Of your country, who used to work with a Company here in Lome Togo.
He used to be my client.



My client died here with the family for years now, Since then I have made
several enquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended
relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last name
over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. I
have contacted you to assist in repatriating the fund valued at US$18.7 million
left behind by my client before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by
the Finance Firm where this huge amount were deposited.



The said Finance Company has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or
have his account confiscated within the next twenty one official working days.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over four years
now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since
you have the same last names, 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 which i will send to you once i
receive your positive response. All I require from you is your honest co-operation
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, get back to me with the following information of yours to enhance our
communication.



(1) Your Mobile Phone number:

(2) Your Electronic Mail Address:



I will appreciate your urgent response in this regard. Thanks for your
anticipated co-operation.



Mr  Desmond Kwabina (LLB, LLM, PhD).

Anti-fraud resources: