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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: "John Mike" <johnmike2001@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: johnmike201@yahoo.fr
Date: Fri, 05 Aug 2005 03:24:54 +0100
Subject: From the Desk of:Mr.John Mike

From the Desk of:Mr.John Mike
{GM, Corporate and Investment
Banking Division (South)}
African Continental Bank Ltd,Nigeria.

Dear Friend,

My name is Mr.John Mike,General Manager, Corporate and Investment
Banking Division(South)with African Continental Bank Ltd ,Lagos-Nigeria.I
came to know about you in my private search for a reliable
person/company to handle a confidential transaction on behalf of my
Colleagues and myself.As a matter of fact, I got your information from
the Nigerian Chamber of Commerce and Industry/Nigerian Export Promotion
Council.

l write in respect of a foreign customer with A/C
Number:14-2558-2004,who unfortunately lost his life in
the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January
31 2000,including his wife and only daughter leaving nobody to claim
the money.

You shall read more news about the crash on visiting this
site;http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/ alaska.airlines.list/ The owner
of this account Mr. Morris Thompson an American and great industrialist
and a resident of Alaska.

Since the death of this our customer Mr. Morris Thompson, I have kept
a close monitoring of the deposit records and accounts since then.

Nobodyhas come forward to claim the money in this A/C as next of kin
to the late Mr. Morris Thompson. The total amount in the account
US$12.5 million and it is a domiciliary escrow bank account. It is
only an insider,the accountowner or a next of kin who has information
about the account that could produce the Code or password of the
deposit particulars.

Also the funds can only be released to a foreigner.

As it stands now, there is nobody in the position to produce the
neededinformation other than my very self-considering my position in
the bank.Based on the fact that Mr. Thompson's family perished in the
same flight accident, leaving no one to put claim of the deposit as the
next of kin,so I am seeking for your co-operation to present you as the
next of kin to late Thompson, and arrange for the release of the funds
to your honour for our mutual benefit.

If there is more delay in moving this money out, this money will be
pushed to the Treasury of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I am willing to share this money with you in the ratio of 70-30%.You
shall have 30% of the funds and I shall share the rest with my partner
at the bank.I hope this is a fair sharing?

I look forward to hearing from you urgently so that we can proceed
accordingly.I wait for your urgent response.this is my private e-mail
(john_mik1@yahoo.fr)

Thanks and best Regards.

Mr John Mike



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