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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: "ahmed hassan" <alhass20@mail.vu> (may be fake)
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2005 12:08:31 +0400
Subject: please your help

Hello, I am Mr. Ahmed Hassan,the bank manager of National Bank of Dubai, I have urgent and very confidential business proposition for you,please do let me in so that i can give you the details, On 11 November 2000, a gold merchant/contractor with the Rand Gold Exploration company, Mr, Jim Smith made a numbered time (fixed) deposit for Twelve calendar months, valued at us$10,000,000.00 (Ten Million US Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, i sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers (Rand Gold Exploration Company Ltd) that Mr. Jim Smith died from an automobile accident, on further investigation i found out that he did not leave Will and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and i discovered that Mr. Smith did not declare any next of kin in all his officia!
l documents including his Bank deposit paperwork. This sum of us$10,000,000 is still sitting in the Bank and the interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of each year. No one will come forward to claim it, According to the U.A.E. law, at the expiration of five (5) years the money will revert to the ownership of the U.A.E. Government if nobody applies to claim the funds. Consequently, my proposal is that i will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr. Smith so that the fruits of this old man's labour will not get into the hands of some corrupt officials. This is simple, I will like you to provide me immediately with your full names and address so that an Attorney will prepare the necessary documents and affidavits which will put you in place as next of kin. I would also like you to scan your drivers license for me, We shall employ the services of two Attorneys for drafting and notarization !
of the Will and obtain the necessary documents and letter of probateFadministration in your favor for the transfer. A Bank account in any part of the world which you provide will then facilitate the transfer of this money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin. The money will be paid into your account for us to share in the ratio of 60% for me and 40% for you. There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transaction will be done by the Attorney and my position as the bank Manager guarantees the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested,please reply me immediately. upon your response i shall then provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you understand, Please observe utmost confidentiality and rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us.
Awaiting your urgent reply via email, my email is alhass20@mail.vu <mailto:alhass20@mail.vu>
Regards.
Mr. A. Hassan



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