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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Louis Estrada" <paullouis@tiscali.it> (may be fake)
Reply-To: paullouis@myway.com
Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 12:52:20 -0700
Subject: ASSIST MY FAMILY



This is a proposal in context but actually an appeal soliciting
for your unreserved assistance in consummating an urgent
transaction requiring maximum confidence. Though this approach
appears desperate, I can assure you that whatever
questions you would need to ask or any other thing you will
need to know regarding this proposal will be adequately
answered to give you a clearer understanding of it, so as to
arrive at a successful conclusion.

My name is Mrs. Louis Estrada, wife of His Excellency
Joseph Estrada, former President of The Philippines. My husband
was recently impeached from office by a backed uprising of mass
demonstrators and the Senate and was put in jail on
trumped up charges of corruption and embezzlement.

The present government is forcing my husband out of Manila to
avoid demonstration by his supporters. I realized some
reasonable amount of money from various deals that I
successfully executed, during my husband's regime as President
of Philippines. I have plans to invest this money for my
children's future on real estate and industrial production in your country.

I have carefully moved out these funds (US$15.5 million), before
my husband was impeached to an offshore Deposit Company
in Europe. My husband is not aware of this because
I want to handle it secretly.

From past experiences, many people I had regarded as close
friends has capitalize on my family's travail to run away with
my money. In order to avert this negative development, I in
conjunction with my son now seek your permission to allow my
attorney do a CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP/REASSIGNMENT OF CREDIT of stated
funds from the deposit company to your name, so that
the funds (US$15.5million) would be released to you as the new
owner (on behalf of me and my family).

I am writing because when I deposited the money in the deposit
company, I told them that it belonged to a foreign business
partner and my present position will not allow me to claim the
funds. Consequently, I will present you as the owner of the
funds in the Deposit Company so you can be able to claim them. This
is simple. I will like you to provide immediately;

1. Full names
2. Contact address
3. Telephone and fax numbers
Once I receive this information, I will prepare the necessary
documents that will put you in place as the new owner of the
funds.

The money will then be released to your custody by the Deposit
Company, for us to share in the ratio of 75% for us and 25% for
you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this
transaction will be done by the solicitor and this will
guarantee the successful execution of this transaction.

If you are interested, please reply immediately via my email
address. Upon your response, I shall then introduce you to my
son (MR. MALASI) who is going to liaise with you for further explanation that will help you understand the transaction.

No doubt, this proposal will make you apprehensive, please we
employ you to observe utmost confidentiality and rest assured
that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us
because we shall require your assistance to invest our share in
your country (buying of properties like houses, hotels etc).
This is why your urgent action and response is of priority to
enable us concluding this transaction in a timely and professional
manner.

You can please send your reply to my son at paullasi@myway.com

Thanks and regards.

Mrs. Louis Estrada


Anti-fraud resources: