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.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Jim Lott" <jimlot1707@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: jimlott@compaqnet.fr
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 00:30:58 -1000
Subject: Barrister Jim Lott

Dear Friend,

I am Barrister Jim Lott, the Personal Attorney to a Foreign
Contractor, who worked with a Multinational Oil Firm in Nigeria.

On the 11th of September 2001, my client, a Mexican National, late
Engineer Carlos Montoya, an oil Merchant / Contractor with the Federal
Government of Nigeria, until his death some years ago in a ghastly
terrorist attack to American Airlines Flight 11, from Boston,
Massachusetts, to Los Angeles, California, crashed into the North
Tower of the World Trade Centre with 86 people on board. All occupants
of the Aeroplane unfortunately lost their lives.
Since then I have made several inquiries to Several Embassies to locate any
of my
clients extended

relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several
unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet,
to locate
any member of his family but of no avail, hence I contacted you. I have
contacted
you to assist me in repatriating the money left behind by my client before
they get
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where this huge deposits
were
lodged.Particularly, the Bank where the deceased had an account valued at
about
US$9Million has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin,relatives so
that the
fund left will be transferred or havethe account confiscated within the next
twenty
official working days.
Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the the relatives for over 4
years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the
deceased so that the proceeds of this account
valued at US$9Million can be paid to you and then you and I can share this
money.
70% to me and 25% to you,while 5% should be for expenses or tax as your
Government
may require.

All I require is your honest and co-operation to enable us see this deal
through. I
guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of the law.

I will want you to send to me on your return email the following
information for the transfer in your favour.

1, Your full names
2, Your contact address
3, The name of bank you wish we will use in receiving the fund successfully
4, The complete address of the bank
5, Your private phone and fax numbers where we will be communicating to each
other.

Regards,

Barrister Jim Lott.


Anti-fraud resources: