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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: "Richard Andrew lamb" <zs_jas@wist.com.pl>
Reply-To: richardlamb013@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2017 11:03:49 +0200
Subject: ATTENTION!!!!

I am Richard Andrew Lamb, a financial accountant here in U.K. I am the account officer to the deceased, your nationality, who was till his death a Contractor with Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC)herein U.K. Hereinafter shall be referred to as my customer.

On the 21st of April 2013, my client, his wife and their only daughter were involved in a fire outbreak in their residence. All the family members unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several inquiries to your embassy here to locate any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I contacted you.I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the fund valued at £15,500,000.00 (Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds) left behind by my customer in an account here in UBS Investment bank before it gets Confiscated or declared serviceable by the bank where this huge amount were deposited. The said Finance Company has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next twenty - one official working days. For the fact that I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over a year now, I seek the consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you while you compensate me in return.

I will provide the necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for the claim. All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law both in your country and that of the United Kingdom.

Best regards,
Richard Andrew lamb

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