joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Edward Lar" <edward1@toua.net>
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 04:52:11 -0700
Subject: late Morris Thompson




From: Edward Lar
edwardlar01@yahoo.com.hk

Dear Friend,

First, I'm soliciting your utmost confidenciality in this Transaction.
I am Edward Lar, Deposit Accrediting Officer of a Security company in Lagos Nigeria. I came to you in my private search for a reliable person to handle this confidential transaction, which involves huge sum of money to your country.

The Proposition: A foreigner an American, late Morris Thompson who died on January 31 aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which crashed into the Pacific Ocean not far from Los Angeles, while returning from her country from a business trip. He deposited with us at our security company a consignment and the content of the consignment is worth US$11Million, having heard of the tragic incident involving late Morris Thompsom the security company now expects a next of kin as beneficiary. Valuable efforts have been made by the security company’s management to get in touch with any of his family's but I personally found out that he died with his wife and daughter.

The only name of next of kin given to us by late Morris Thompson unfortunately was with him in the same flight that crashed, and this is unknown to the security company’s management. I'm taking this advantage in order to better my life and that of my family, I now decided to seek your permission to have you stand as next of kin to late Morris Thompson , so that the consignment containing the money be released to you as the next of kin. All documents and proves to enable you get this fund will be carefully worked out, by the lawyer that will be employ to work on your behalf . You can take time and verify from the website as shown herein for confirmation of the crash,

<http://edition.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/>

I am assuring you that this transaction and its procedures is 100% legal and risk free involvement. Your share stays while the rest will be for myself. The sharing of the fund between the two of us will be as follows: 30% of the total sum will go to you for your effort and commitment to the success of this transaction. 70% will be for us here. As soon as I receive an acknowledgement of the receipt of this message in Acceptance, I will immediately start up with the process. If this proposal is acceptable by you, kindly reply me immediately you get this mail.

I want you to also furnish me with your private telephone/fax or preferably your mobile numbers as well as your full names and address, I will have to apply for the release of the consignment in your favor as the next of kin.

Finally, note that the security company officers/management does not know the contents of the consignment but as the Deposit Accrediting Officer of a Security company, I happened to have the privilege of knowing the content of the consignment, Mr.Morris Thompson declared the content of the consignment to be his personal effects.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation and I shall give you more details on what we are to do to claim the consignment without any hitch.

If you are interested please send your response to edwardlar01@yahoo.com.hk.

Yours faithfully,
Edward Lar


Anti-fraud resources: