joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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. Madjid Khatibzadeh" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <madjidkhatibzadeh_consultant2@outlook.com>
Date: Sun, 4 Oct 2015 07:54:08 +0200
Subject: Notice

Hello,

I am an external auditor here in the European Union and have contacted you because I have carried out research into dormant accounts of deceased clients at some financial institutes where I presently audit its accounts here in the United Kingdom and the clients have no heirs. The accounts have significant amount of money in them. An account is judged to be dormant if there has been no activity in it, or contact with the client, for 15 years. Normally, account holders lose contact due to death without leaving a will and there's no known heir to inherit. The treasury department receives the unclaimed money unless a previously unknown distant relative comes and puts a claim on it; which is usually within a limited time frame.

The United Kingdom’s Treasury Department receives over 5bnGBP every year from unclaimed estates, forgotten funds, abandoned shares, dormant accounts; and some of it could be ours if we can work together as I can provide all relevant documents and information. We could present you as the next of kin to deceased, as laid out in section 46 of the Administration of Estates Act of 1925 (with subsequent amendments), if you agree to work with me.

I will need to enter into an agreement with you, which will cover the disbursement aspect of funds. The amount in question currently stands at Nine million British Pounds sterling only. At the closure of this transaction, 40% of the total funds will be yours. So, if you would like to team up with me discreetly to secure these funds for ourselves, please have your full contact information sent to me for efficient communication.

I await your careful considered answer as when we proceed we cannot stop half way, as this is one in a life time opportunity to cash in.


Sincerely,

M Khatibzadeh

Anti-fraud resources: