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: "Femi Raymond" <femi_ray@msn.com>
Reply-To: barr_femiray007@computermail.net
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 08:15:31 +0000
Subject: BENEFICIARY

Dear friend,

I am Barrister Femi Raymond (Esq) a solicitor at law. I am the Personal
attorney to Mr. Philips T. Walter, a national of your country, who was a
gold miner and crude oil exporter here in Africa.

On the 21st of April 2002, my client, his wife and their three children were
involved in a car accident along Shagamu Express way. All occupants of the
vehicle unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have made several
enquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives and
this has proved unsuccessful.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 3 years
now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased,
so that the proceeds of this account valued at U.S39 million dollars can be
paid to you.

This is the only way I can secure the money for the family of my late
client, you will give necessary assistance to invest the money in your
Country while the search for his relatives continues. I have all necessary
legal documents that can be used to backup any claim we may make.

All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this claim
through. If at the end of our search, we are not able to trace any of his
relatives, we shall both share the money on 50/50 basis. Particularly, the
bank where the deceased deposited the fund has issued me a notice to provide
the next of kin or have the account confiscated. I guarantee that this will
be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of the law.

Please get in touch with me by email and send to me your telephone number to
enable us discuss further about this transaction.

Best regards,

Barrister Femi Raymond (Esq).


Anti-fraud resources: