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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Anthony Williams <tunde.mart@gmail.com>
Reply-To: info_rectam@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 11 Jun 2016 07:04:59 +0100
Subject: Attn: The Next of Kin
RECTAM CHAMBERS
72 Blythe Road,
West Kensington,
London W14 0HB
Dear Sir
Thank you for taking your time to read this mail. I am a Lawyer and
the Personal Attorney to a highly successful Construction Contractor,
who died Twelve years ago in an industrial accident without leaving a
known heir. My late Client may or may not be related to you. I
narrowed down my search to you based on your surname and nationality
which you both share.
The main reason why I am contacting is because I need your urgent
assistance in resolving an issue that just cropped up. Since the past
12 years I have searched fruitlessly for any surviving distant
relation of my late client.
As his Personal Attorney his bank recently wrote me to notify me of
plans to forfeit the unclaimed fund to the Treasury, if I fail to come
forward with a next of kin within the next 14 work days. I don't want
the fund to go into the Treasury as an unclaimed fund and probably end
up in the pockets of some top officials. I strongly suspect this
“TREASURY THING “to be a ploy because there have been a more -than
-usual- interest in that particular bank account for the past couple
of years; this is the reason why I am contacting you base on the fact
that you share same surname and nationality with my late client. I
want to present you to the bank as the next of kin to my late client
whether you are related or not is immaterial.
I directly and personally have all the necessary back up documents and
will source for any other necessary papers to support the successful
release of the fund to you without delay provided you agree to work
with me and strictly take my professional advice and official
directives to actualize the fund to your/our custody. The account is
valued at Twenty One Million and Five Hundred Thousand British Pounds
Sterling (21.5 GBP). I prefer to give 50% of the proceeds to charity
than let the bank officials have it, while we share the balance of 50%
for our troubles.
If interested please indicate so by including your contact telephone
number in your reply.
Best regards,
Anthony Williams
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