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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Mallam Yesufu Abdukarim" <mallamyesufuabdul@indiatimes.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mallamyesufuabdu@yahoo.co.in
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 06:41:04 +0000
Subject: Assalam Aleikum, Great Financial Blessing for You.

From: Mallam Yesufu Abdulkarim
Abdulkarim Yesufu Law Chambers
AB452 Cocody, Abidjan,
Cote D`Ivoire
Telefax: +225 07384968
E-mail: mallamyesufuabdul@indiatimes.com

Assalam Aleikum, Great Financial Blessing for You.

Assalam Aleikum,

I am Mallam Yesufu Abdulkarim, a Solicitor at law and Corporate Attorney. I am the personal attorney to Late. Ilhaj Masoud Khaleed, an Arab national, who was an Oil contractor in Abidjan,Cote D`Ivore.

On the 21st of April 2001, my client, his wife and their two children were involved in a car accident along the auto route and all occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several enquiries both local and international to locate any of my client's relatives which has proved largely unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts to locate any member of his family for the past three years I decided to contact you.

I am contacting you to assist in transferring out the money left behind by my client to your country before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were lodged. Particularly the bank where the deceased had an account valued at 10 million United States dollars, they have issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account confiscated within the next one month.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 3years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at 10 million USD plus accumulated interest can be paid to you and then you and me can share the money 50% to me and 50% to you. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make like the Certificate of Deposit and Copy of Agreement issued to my client on the date of deposit, I also have a copy of the death Certificate of my client. All I require is your honest cooperation and maximum secrecy to enable us succeed in this deal.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me by my email address above and send to me your personal telephone / fax numbers and email address to enable us discuss further about this transaction.

May Allah bless you and your family.

Alhamdulillah, Wassalam,
Mallam Yesufu Abdulkarim


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