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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: "Mr. Williams Olasupo" <barr.andrewallenesq@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2015 17:00:17 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: This is a personal email directed to you


 Greetings,

This is a personal email directed to you and I request that it should be treated as such. I am Andrew Allen, a lawyer and solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney/sole executor to the late Mr. George , hereinafter referred to as 'my client' who worked as an independent oil merchant in my country UK before he died in a car crash with his immediate family on the 28th of July, 2004. I carried out this search on you and I am contacting you because you bear a similar last name with that of my late client and the further reasons are as follows:

Since the death of my client in July, 2004, I have written several letters to his embassy with an intent to locate any of his extended relatives whom shall be claimants/beneficiaries of his abandoned personal estate and all such efforts have been to no avail. However, going by the recent publications by the Trustee bank in which my client deposited the sum of £8.7m (GBP), I fear a likely winding up proceedings in the coming months. I seek your consent therefore, to present you to the trustees as my client's next of kin since you bear a similar last name with him so that you can help repatriate the money to a foreign account and I promise a fair share between us at the end of the transfer.

Respond urgently with your telephone and fax numbers if you are very interested so I can appraise you with further details. I assure you that I have all the requirements to execute this claim legitimately. Please reply via my official email id which is: Barr.andrewallenesq@counsellor.com

Warmest regards,
Andrew Allen (Esq).
+44 703 193 4379
Email: Barr.andrewallenesq@counsellor.com

Anti-fraud resources: