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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: "levent alkan" <leventalkan@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2005 17:24:56 +0000
Subject: Urgent

Good day to you,

First, I must solicit your STRICT confidence in this Proposition, this is by
virtue of its nature as being utterly, CONFIDENTIAL. I have decided to
contact you after serious consideration to participate in a business
transaction the value of USD38.5M. I work with one of the leading private
and offshore banks in the U.K with Headquarters in London.

The Proposition:

On January 6, 1999, an Egyptian oil consultant/contractor, Mr. Youssef
Genidy George, made a numbered time (fixed) deposit for 24 calendar months
value US$38.5M in my bank. On maturity, we sent a routine notification to
his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a remin! der
but unfortunately we found out that he was amongst the victims of the
EgyptAirFlight 990 that occurred September 1999, months after he made
thedeposit.Visit the site below for more news on the unfortunate tragedy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/Americas/502503.stm

After his death, several attempts have been made to try an contact any of
his relatives but all efforts were to no avail. Right now, my bank is at the
edge of declaring the funds UN CLAIMABLE since nobody has come forward to
claim the deposited money and according to the regulations of my bank, which
states clearly that, "Any account left Dormant for up to 3 years would be
declared UN CLAIMABLE. Mr Youssef unfortunately did not leave a
beneficiary's name with my bank nor did he leave the name of his next of
kin. It is inlight of this that I have decided to contact you to stand in as
the beneficiary of the deposited funds by the late MR Youssef.

Since I work in the bank, and in my capacity as! an executive, I will, with
your assistance procure all necessary docu ments to make you the beneficiary
of the deposited fund. We will work hand in hand to ensure that all relevant
documents are processed and submitted to the bank to enable approval in your
favor after which the money would be trannsferred to your account directly.

I have decided that upon the successfulconclusion of this transaction, the
following shall be the sharing patter of the deposited funds:

40% will go to you 5% will be kept aside for any expenses incurred during
this transaction And I will take the rest 55%.

I want you to kindly provide me with your private phonen and fax numbers for
easier communication.

I will await your response.

Kind regards,

Levent Alkan



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