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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Frank Lim" <franklim_2004@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: limfrank@box.az
Date: Mon, 03 Oct 2005 03:33:45 -0500
Subject: Dear friend

Dear friend
I am MR LIM FRANK , a private financial consultant. I am the
personal financial / business consultant to a foreigner who died in
U.K. without any will.
I contacted your Embassy to locate any of my client's relatives,
immediate or extended and this has proved unsuccessful.
After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his
relatives over the Internet and locate any member of his family but
it was a futile search.
Hence, I am contacting you. I need you to assist in securing the
money and property left behind by my client before they get
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where his huge
deposits were lodged. Particularly, the bank where the deceased had
a domiciliary account valued Twenty-six million, five hundred
thousand ($26.5m) United States Dollars.
The bank has issued a notice that I provide the Next of Kin or have
the account confiscated within the next one month. Since I have been
unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over two years now, I
seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased
since you are from the same country and have same surname so that
the proceeds of this account valued at $26.5 million Dollars can be
paid to you and then you and me can share the money.
The sharing ratio will be 60% to me and 37% to you, while 3% should
be for expenses or tax as your government may require. I have all
necessary documents to back up claims if you consent as Next of Kin.
All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us execute this
deal with absolute confidentiality from you.
I guarantee that this will be done under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect you. Please get in touch with me by email to
enable us discuss further.
Best regards,
MR LIM FRANK


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