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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: "PETER WIDMER" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <peterwidmer@london.com>
Date: Mon, 28 May 2012 08:11:19 +0100
Subject: FOR YOUR PERUSAL

GREETINGS,
 
I hope this email does not come as an embarrassment to you because I sometimes receive unsolicited emails. The truth about it is that most scammers misuse the purpose for which the Internet was invented. I am Mr. Peter Widmer, Chairman of the Board of HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA and Counsel (former Senior Partner) of Homburger AG, and I am contacting you concerning our late customer and an investment placed under our banks management before the Iraq war. 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 contacted you independently of my investigation and no one is informed of this communication.
 
I would like to acquaint you with certain facts that might be of interest to you. In 2003,Aabharan  Nabendu, a businessman from Idian, also who was with the Iraqi forces and our Client, made a fixed deposit of Twenty four million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in my branch, a number of notices was sent to him when it was due, but no response came from him till date. We later found out that the General along with his family had been killed in a bomb blast that hit their home, what bothers me most is according to the laws of this country at the expiration of 6 years the funds will revert to the Government if nobody comes for the funds, Against this scenery, I have all the information needed to claim these funds. You can check more about me with the below link
http://www.hsbcprivatebank.com/aboutus/board-of-directors.html
 
All I require is your honest co-operation and I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect me and you from any breach of the law. Please accept my apologies Your interest to assist me was rather unspecific as a result of which I am quite sceptical in believing that you could be of assistance to me, therefore I would like to be sure of your willingness, trustworthiness and commitment to execute this transaction with me, I cannot afford to compromise these virtues considering the money involved, it is necessary for me to be sure of the person to whom I will be entrusting this transaction, my trust is not given out lightly.
 
What I expect from you is trust and commitment, I want this large sum of money to be delivered to  you in a diplomatic means  with your assistance  and you should have nothing to worry about regarding legality AT ALL. In my next email, I shall discuss terms and what you stand to benefit but be sure that I am willing to invest my own part in Real Estate in your country Indian  but I want to know if you are willing to follow up this business seriously before I can give you more details about this transaction, however I shall be waiting for your response and assurance. Get back to me on: peterwidmer@london.com
 
Regards,
Mr.Peter Widmer          
   

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