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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.Letian Tangle" <tangle70@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: letiantangle@sify.com
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2005 03:30:54 +0000
Subject: RE:CONTACT ME.

Mr. Letian Tangle.
Branch Manager,
Municipal Private Bank Scotland
United Kingdom.
letiantangle@sify.com


I am Mr. Letian Tangle,the Manager of Municipal
Bank UK.I am writing following an oppurtunity in my
office that will be of immense benefit to both of us.
This means of Communication (internet) has been greatly
abused,though it remains the fastest and the most secured
means of communication.I,however choose to communicate
with you through it due to the nature and level of
confidentiality which is required in this correspondence.
This message should remain private and strictly between
me and you.


In my department i discovered an abandoned sum of $15
Million (Fifteen Million United States Dollars) in an
account that belongs to one of our foreign customers
Late Mr. Morris Thompson an American who unfortunately
lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines
Flight 261 which crashed on January 31 2000,including
his wife and only daughter.You shall read more about
the crash on visiting this site.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list

Since we got information about his death,we have been
expecting his next of kin or relatves to come over and
claim his money because we cannot release it unless
somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to
the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.

Unfortunately his supposed next of kin being his only
daughter or wife died along with him in the plane
crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund
behind for the claim.It is therefore upon this discovery
that I have contacted you as the manager in my bank to
transact this business with you and release the money
to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of the funds for
safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is
coming for it and i don’t want this money to go back into
Government treasury as unclaimed bill.

The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that
such money remained after six years will be transferred
into banking treasury as unclaimed funds.

I have decided that 40% of this money will be for you
as foreign partner, while the balance of 60% would be
for me.I will visit your country for the disbursement
according to the percentages indicated above once this
money gets into your account. Please be honest to me
and TRUST is our watchword in this transaction.Note that
this transaction is confidential and risk free.
As soon as you receive this mail you should contact me
through this email.
Email:letiantangle@sify.com

Please note that all necessary arrangement for the
smooth release of these funds to you has been finalised.
We will discuss much in details when I do receive your
response.Please in your response include your telephone
number for easy communication between us.

Forever Yours,
Mr. Letian Tangle
Bank Manager(Municipal bank)


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