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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: Gareth Elford <mr.ok_a@yahoo.com.sg>
Reply-To: garethelford@yahoo.com.sg
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:28:56 +0200
Subject: PARTNERSHIP?



--
Dear Sir/Madam,
I hope you give due consideration to this letter before you discard it
as a hoax.
My name is Mr. Gareth Elford,Account Officer/Personal Banker with one
of the banks in United Kingdom . On 8 November 2001, a diplomat from
Africa made a numbered
time (Fixed) Deposit, valued at for twelve calendar months in my Bank
branch. Upon maturity, routine notifications were sent to his
forwarding address with
no reply. This was repeated a month later as a reminder, finally I
discovered that the diplomat was General Robert Guei, and was killed
together with all his
family members in a political uprising in his country on September
19th 2002. Please,read more from the link below:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,3604,796127,00.html

On further investigation, I discovered that the General did not
declare any next of kin or relation in all his official documents at
time the deposit was
made at the bank. The total sum is £8.7M British Pounds, and to this
day no one has ever come forward to claim it.
Recently, we received a circular from The Commission for Unclaimed
Assets requesting the return of all unclaimed funds to them. This is
in accordance with
the Federal banking Laws and constitution, and the money will be
reverted to the ownership of the Government if nobody applies as the
next of Kin to claim
the funds. Please,read more from this :
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,,2030931,00.html .

Consequently, I shall present you as a foreigner to stand in as the
business partner to late General nominated by him as his next of kin,
upon acceptance of
this proposal; I shall give you detailed information on how this deal
would be carried out. We shall employ the services of a solicitor for
the drafting of
the letter of probate in your favour, and to obtain all other relevant
papers in your name for the necessary documentation for payment
approval in my bank.
The money will be shared in the ratio of: sixty-five percent for me,
thirty percent for you and five percent for any arising contingencies
during the course
of this transaction.I guarantee that this will be executed under
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the
law, as I will use my
position in the bank to facilitate the approvals and guarantee the
successful execution of this transaction. Please be informed that your
utmost
confidentiality is required. If this interests you, please reply me
immediately, and please include your private telephone number for
voice contact and fax
number and e-mail address so I can provide you with more details and
relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction.
Your urgent reply will be appreciated.
Yours truly,
Mr. Gareth Elford.

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