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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.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: Mr Betrand Richard <mr_betrandrichard1@yahoo.co.in>
Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 08:21:53 +0100 (BST)
Subject: PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL


FROM:MR BETRAND RICHARD
SOUTH-AFRICA.
CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVATE
I write you from my office table through e-mail in anticipation that it will be strictly confidential and such will introduce myself to you. Being the Chief Accounting Officer,Department of Energy and Mineral Resources here in the Republic of South Africa, I write to solicit your sincere assistance in order to redeem an investment interest currently being held under trust with the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources. The said investment which is now valued at USD42Million Dollars was originally purchased by Mr. Nicholas Riggs and leased in 1984 to Noble Gold Miners Investment.

At maturity of the contract in May 1999,several attempts were made without success,to contact Mr.Nicholas Riggs or any of his relatives in whose favour the cash value for the redeemed investment could be made. As the head of accounts in the department,I have with my director general carefully initiated the process of filing a claim for the money with the hope of having the fund transfered abroad for investment on our behalf and we are hopefull you will agree with our intention to arrange payment of the claim in your name.
We require that you let us prepare and file the claim for the money from this department indicating your name as the appointed beneficiary of the
fund.Upon approval of the payment of this claim,you will be paid Fourty-Two Million United States Dollars (USD42Million),and since the money will be transfered directly into your bank account,you will have the responsibility to ensure that we receive our share of the money which we have decided will be 80% for possible investment in your country at your supervision while you will keep 20% as your personal commission.Expenses incurred will be deducted from our share. I have to assure you however,that we are to make the payment of this fund possible provided you are ready to meet with us and give us a very strong guarantee that our share of the fund will be secured in your hands and that you will not betray our trust in making the transfer of the fund into your bank account.

This is a very safe and risk-free involvement as it is not prone to any enquiry since we are all active partners and will not want to loose our positions in government and department. We demand that you keep this transaction very private and confidential in view of our personal involvements.Full details of the procedures for the claim will be provided as soon as we receive your response and acceptance to be part of this agreement. We expect the immediate indication of your interest in assisting us through this e-mail. address
Kindly adopt and treat accordingly.
Best regards,
Mr.Betrand Richard
(Chief Accounting Officer D.E.M.R).



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