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: natasha103@uku.co.uk
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 06:04:30 +0100
Subject: proposal

FROM:NATASHA TAYLOR
575 Finchley Road
London NW3 7BJ,U.K.
UNITED KINGDOM.
PROPOSITION:

Dear,

My name is NATASHA TAYLOR. I am a friend and a
personal councellor to a former credit manager and
then the account officer of a foreigner
named Gerard St.Germain who died in an air crash along
with his wife on the 31st October 1999 in an Egyptian
airline 990,with other passengers on board.You can
confirm this from the website below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm

My Friend resigned from the bank months ago because of
internal and
family problems,but before his resignaton he was
managing the deposit account of the late Gerard St
Germain where he had access to some vital
information as to how the funds will be paid to the
next of kin. Since his death, none of his next-of-kin
is alive to make claims for this money as his
heir,because they all died in the same accident, him
and the wife,
vette St.Germain (May their soul rest in peace)


The bank cannot release the funds from his account
unless someone
applies for the claim as the next-of-kin to the
deceased as indicated in their banking guidelines.
Upon this discovery, my friend asked me to look for a
reliable person to stand as the next of kin because he
can not handle this directly since he has worked in
the bank, 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 and
my friend for the funds valued (Fifteen million
united states dollars) to be released in your favour
as the beneficiary's next of kin because after five
years the money will be called back to the bank
treasury as unclaimed bills and the money shared
amongst the directors of the bank.

So it is on this note that my friend asked me to seek
for whom his name shall be used as the next of
kin/beneficiary to this funds rather than allow the
bank directors to share this money amongst themselves
at the end of the year. We also intend to donate
part of our share of the funds to the tsunami victims
in South East Asia.Please acknowledge receipt of this
message in acceptance to this noble offer by
furnishing me with the following information if you
are interested.

1.A Beneficiary name and address in order for me to to
get a probate for the transfer of the funds in your
name.

2. Direct Telephone and fax numbers.For our personal
contact and mutual discussion.Upon your acceptance, I
shall give you my direct telephone number so that we
can discuss freely.We shall be compensating you with
four million dollars on final conclusion of this
project for your assistance, One Million Dollars shall
be for any unforssen expenses,while the remaining Ten
Million will be shared between me and my friend.If
this proposal is acceptable by you, please endeavor to
contact me immediately,

If not please disregard this email.Alternative email
address:natasha103@uku.co.uk

Regards,
NATASHA.



Anti-fraud resources: