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: =?UTF-8?B?Ik1yLkZlZGV4IFNvdW5vdXZvdSI=?= <elarcatv@infovia.com.ar>
Date:
Subject:

Dear Friend,

I am Mr.Fedex Sounouvou the manager of bill and exch= ange at the foreign remittance department in the AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (= ADB). In my department we I discovered an abandoned sum of Nineteen Million= Three Hundred Thousand United State Dollars $19,300,000.00 in an account t= hat belongs to one of our foreign customer (Mr. Paul Wellstone from United = State of America) who died along with his entire family on (25th Oct. 2002)= in a plane crash.

Since we got information about his death, we have= been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because th= is bank cannot release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or= relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking gildings and laws but= unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died= alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.= It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this busine= ss proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relat= ion to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is = coming for it and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as = unclaimed bill. The banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such = money remained unclaimed after fifteen years, the money will be transferred= into the bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next= of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a = foreigner and a Burkina Faso cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.
I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as a respect to the pro= vision of a foreign account , 10% will be set aside for expenses incurred d= uring the business and 50% would be for me Thereafter, I will visit your co= untry for disbursement according to the percentage indicated Therefore, to = enable the immediate transfer of this fund to you arranged, you must apply = first to the bank as relation or next of kin of the deceased indicating you= r bank name, your bank account number, your private telephone and fax numbe= r for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will= be remitted. Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or emai= l the text of the application .I will not fail to bring to your notice that= this transaction is hitch-free and you should not entertain any atom of fe= ar as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. I believe = the most important thing in this transaction is faithfulness and confidenti= ality. Surely this transaction is legitimate, there is no risk involved, an= d it is 100% risk free business. Also important is for you to be honest eno= ugh and not betray me eventually this fund gets into your account. Regards = to this transaction, I have worked hard for two years now trying to gather = all the required information about this deceased customer after I found out= that all his supposed next of kin are all dead leaving nobody behind to pu= t claim over his left balance with this bank.

I also got into his se= curity file jacket in this bank and got all the needed information about hi= s account and all information his next of kin should know. Because he was a= foreigner, from United State of America nationality, then I started lookin= g for a foreign partner who will help me put claim over this fund. I will f= orward to you all the needed information and will guide you adequately in t= his transaction. Good underground work has been done within the bank, I hav= e been working hard towards the success of this transaction. Everything has= been put and the transaction is 100% risk free and will be finished in les= s than 7 bank working days after the application is tendered to the bank as= next of kin to the deceased putting claim over his 19.3m balance with the = bank.

You have to also re-assure me that my own share of the funds w= ill be safe in your hands after the successful inheritance and transfer of = this fund into your account. If the above detailed explanation is acceptabl= e to you I want you to inform me so that we can proceed, If you are interes= ted, please forward me the bellow information's;

Your name: ........= ....................
Sex..................
Your country: ............= .............
Your phone Number: ......................
Your Tel/fax:= ...........................
Your age: ...............................Your occupation: .......................

Thank for your anticipate= d co-operation
Wait for your urgent reply.
More blessing to you and y= our family.
Best regard.
Mr.Fedex Sounouvou

Anti-fraud resources: