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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: "Mr. Andy Turner" <andy.turner21@verizon.net>
Reply-To: andy.turner51@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2012 07:31:24 +0200
Subject: The Position Of My Customer

Dear friend,
Peace and mercy of God! Before I proceed, I must first apologize for
this unsolicited correspondence to you. I am aware that this is
certainly an unconventional approach to establishing a relationship.
But you will realize the need for my action. I got your contact while
on a private research on the internet.
I am Mr. Andy Turner, a banker with a prominent bank here in London.
In the course of discharging my duties, I was an account officer to
one German citizen who was a contractor and business man. He had an
account with us worth some millions of dollar. This customer did not
assign any next of kin or beneficiary to his account at the time he
opened the account; reasons well known to him.
The reason why I had to contact you today is that this account had
been dormant for more than five years now and from my finds lately, I
found out that he died in ghastly auto accident alongside his wife and
children in Philippine. The management of the financial institution
here is not aware of this and so I decided that instead of losing this
money to the bank I will have to contact someone and with valued
information I have on the account I will have the money transferred
out of the bank here.
I have thus contacted you considering your credibility and business
orientation to present you as a beneficiary to the deceased man?s
account. I intend to give some of the money to charity then invest
wisely with the remaining under your advice and in your country.
Bearing in mind that you may want to assist me, l have decided to part
with 30% of the total money to you. So, if you accept to assist me to
ensure that the fund is moved out from here over to you, we shall
share in the ratio of 70% for me, 30% for you. I intend to invest my
entire 70% share in your country.
Finally, I want to passionately appeal that whether you accept to help
me on this on not, you should hold my request on topmost
confidentiality. Remember that the only thing that makes things work
in life is trust. Kindly respond to me as soon as possible.
Best Regards.
Mr. Turner

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