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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: jonathan <russell77@alvilag.hu>
Date: Mon, 04 Jul 2005 19:02:32 +0200
Subject: GREETINGS

Kindness Ateention.
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.
My name is Jonathan Russell 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 reminder but unfortunately we found out that he
was amongst the victims of the EgyptAirFlight 990 that occurred
September 1999, months after he made the
deposit.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 documents 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.Please kindly send your reply to this email address:russell77@fastermail.com.
I will await your response.
Kind regards,
Jonathan Russell

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