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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: "william boyd" <williamboyd40004000@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Aug 2005 19:55:27 +0000
Subject: hello

PRIVATE AND URGENT.
My name is WILLIAM BOYD, I am the credit manager in a bank here in the
United Kingdom. I am contacting you of a business transfer, of a huge sum of
money from a deceased account. Though I know that a transaction of this
magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you
that everything has been taken care off, and all will be well at the end of
the day. I decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction.
PROPOSITION; I am the account officer of a foreigner named Gerald Welsh who
died in an air crash along with his wife in 31st October 1999 an Egyptian
airline 990 with other passengers on board. you can confirm this from the
website below from published by CNN.WEBSITE PUBLISHED ON CNN. Since his
death, none of his next-of-kin are alive to make claims for this money as
his heir, because they all died in the same accident (May his soul rest in
peace). We cannot release the fund from his account unless someone applies
for claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidelines. Upon this discovery, I now seek your permission to have you
stand as a next of kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be
carefully worked out by me for the funds (US$5,000,000.00) to be released in
your favor as the beneficiary's next of kin. It may interest you to know
that we have secured from the probate an order of mandamus to locate any of
the deceased beneficiaries. Please acknowledge receipt of this message in
acceptance of our mutual business endeavor by furnishing me with the
following information if you are interested. 1. A Beneficiary name. In order
for me to prepare the document for transfer of the funds in your name. 2.
Direct Telephone and fax numbers...For our personal contact and! Mutual
trust in each other. Upon your acceptance I shall send you a copy of my
international passport and drivers license for more confidentiality and
trust. I shall be compensating you with a million dollars ($1Million
dollars) on final conclusion of this project for your assistance, while the
balance $4 million dollars shall be for me for investment purposes. If this
proposal is acceptable by you, please endeavor to contact me immediately. Do
not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you. I await your
urgent mail to my personal email address: williamboyd@globalum.com for
security reasons.
Best Regards,
MR. WILLIAM BOYD.

_________________________________________________________________
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