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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: "Cynthia Ali" <cyn_ali2000@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: cyn_ali2001@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 2005 17:26:12 +0000
Subject: good day

Cynthia Ali
12 Avenue Centenatre
Dakar Senegal
E-mail: cyn_ali2001@yahoo.com
Attention: The President/CEO.
I am Chief Mrs Cynthia Ali, the Director of Bill and Exchange, Foreign Remittance Department of one of the leading banks here in Dakar Senegal. I have an urgent and very confidential business proposition for you. A customer of my bank have a Deposit valued at US$50,000,000.00 (Fifty Million United States Dollars) with my bank. Upon maturity, we sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. We later discovered that MR. ANDREAS SCHRANNER from Munich Germany died in a plane crash along with his entire family in July 2000.
PLEASE TAKE A CAREFULL LOOK AT THE BBC PUBLISHED
Monday, 31 July, 2000, 13:22 GMT 14:22
UK:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Since we got this information about his death and after further investigation, I found out that he died without willing out the said funds with my bank, this is to say that Mr. Andreas Schranner did not declare any next of kin or relations in all the official documents concerning the said Deposit with my Bank.
No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to the Laws of Senegal, at the expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will be reverted to the Government treasury if nobody applies to
claim the fund. Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to Mr. Andreas Schranner so that the fruits of this old man's labour will not get into the hands of some corrupt government officials.
A bank account in any part of the world that you will provide will help 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 50% for me and 30% for you. The remaining 20% will be for any expenses we might incure during the course of the transaction.
There is no risk at all as it will be handled in such a way that no law of any country will be violated and my position in the bank,the successful execution of this transaction is guaranteed. If you are interested, please reply immediately via the private email address
above.
Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details on how we should proceed. Please treat with utmost confidentiality and be rest assured that this transaction will be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country.
Awaiting your urgent reply.
Regard
Cynthia Ali


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