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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: "SMITH WHITE." <smithwhite064@gmail.com)>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 22:14:28 -0700
Subject: PLEASE

Dear Friend

I am Barrister SMITH WHITE , a Solicitor and the Personal
attorney to Mr.
Hoel Paul Edouard, a national of France, who died in a Plane
crash on
Monday 2nd September 1998 GMT 14:22 UK while they were
flying from New
York to Geneva.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9809/swissair.victims.list/index.html

My client his wife and three children lost their lives on
that plane
crash.Since then,i have made several enquiries to the
embassy to locate
any of my clients extended relatives, this has proved
unsuccessful.
After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his
relatives
over the internet, so as to locate any member of his family
but to no
avail,not until i went to his embassy in my Country where
your contact
information was given to me, Hence i contacted you.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money
that belonged
to my late client before they get confiscated or declared as
unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were
lodged.
Particularly, the Bank where the deceased had an account
valued at about
US$10.5 Million Dollars, has issued me a notice to provide
the next of kin
or have the account confiscated within the next ten official
working
days.

Since i have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for
over 3
years now therefore, I have decided to seek your consent to
present you
as the next of kin of the deceased, so that the proceeds of
this account
valued at US$10.5 Million Dollars, can be paid to you and
then you and me
can share the money 50% to me and 45% to you, while 5% will
be mapped
out for any expenses during the process or tax as your
government may
require. I have the certificate of deposit that can be used
to back up
any claim we may make.All I require is your honest
cooperation to enable
us see the deal through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement
that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get
in touch
with me strictly via this email (smithwhite064@gmail.com) to
enable us
discuss further.

Best regards,

Barrister SMITH WHITE.

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