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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr David Cole" <drdavidcole@davidservice.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2005 18:14:15 +0000
Subject: UREGNT RESPONSE NEEDED

Compliments,
 
Before I introduce myself, I wish to inform you that
this letter is not a hoax mail and I
urge you to treat it seriously. We want to transfer to
an oversea account ($16,700.000.00
USD) Sixteen Million Seven Hundred Thousand United
States Dollars) from one of the banks
located in europe. I want to ask you, If you are not
capable to handle this, quickly look for a reliable
and honest person who will be capable and fit to
provide either an existing bank account or to set up a
new Bank a/c immediately to receive this money, even
an empty a/c can serve to receive this money, as long
as you will remain honest to me till the end of this
important business ,I am trusting in you and believing
in God that you will never let me down either now or
in future.
 
I am DR DAVID COLE a personal assistant to late Morris
Thompson. During the course
of his bank's last week auditing,it was discovered
that since his death no one has come
forward to lay claim to this funds.So the bank issued
me a memo to provide his next of kin
or forfeith the funds. This account was opened with
the bank in 1996 and since 1998 nobody
has operated on this account again, after going
through some old files in my records,I
discovered that my late client  died without a
[Heir/WILL] hence the money is floating and
if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be
forfeited for nothing.
 
The owner of this account Mr. Morris Thompson an
American and great industrialist and a
resident of Alaska, who unfortunately lost his life in
the plane crash of Alaska Airlines
Flight 261 which crahsed on January 31 2000,including
his wife and only daughter leaving
nobody as next of kin.No other person knows about this
account or any thing concerning
it,the account has no other beneficiary and my
investigations proven to me  that the
account is a secret account.The total amount involved
is Sixteen million Seven Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars [$16,700.000.00] and we
wish to transfer this money into a
safe foreigners account abroad. But I don't know any
foreigner, I am only contacting you
as a foreigner because this money can not be approved
to a local person here, but to a
foreigner who has information about the account, which
I shall give to you upon your
positive response. I am revealing this to you with
believe in God that you will never let
me down in this business, you are the first and the
only person that I am contacting for
this business,You shall read more  about the crash on
visiting this site which I got during my
investigation;
so please reply urgently so that I will inform you on
the next step to take
urgently.
 
I need your strong assurance that you will never let
us down, me and  key bank officials
who are deeply involved with me in this business. I
guarantee that this transaction will
be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will
protect you from any breach of the
law.The bank official will destroy all documents of
transaction immediately we receive
this money,leaving no trace to any place. I will use
my position and influence to obtain
all legal approvals for onward transfer of this money
to your account with appropriate
clearance from the relevant ministries and foreign
exchange departments.
 
At the conclusion of this business, you will be given
25% of the total amount,70% will be
for us, while 5% will be for expenses both parties
might have incurred during the process
of transferring. I look forward to your earliest
reply. PLEASE, TREAT THIS PROPOSAL AS TOP
SECRET.It would be very business inkind if you would
reach me on my most direct line
+447040111468.
 
Best Regards,
DAVID COLE
--

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