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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Idris Al Agrabah Esq." <idr_algarba01@yahoo.co.in> (may be fake)
Reply-To: idr_algarba02@yahoo.co.in
Date: Sat, 5 Nov 2005 04:24:49 -0800
Subject: From Idris(Al Agrabah Chambers)

Dear Friend,
Please do not be offended if this message comes to you as I ought to have sought your consent and approval before e-mailing this proposal to you. I acted as I did due to the importance and urgency of this business. Which ever way you may look at it, let it please you to respond quickly either negatively or positively.
I am Barrister Idris Al Agrabah , personal attorney to Mr.Jerri Fosmire, a national of supposedly your country who used to work with Shell Development Company in Dubia U.A.E a contract Staff and who was also instrumental to the construction of the Burj Al Arab Hotel in Dubia. Hereinafter shall be referred to as my client for over ten years. On the 31st January,2000, my client, was involed in Flight 261 Plane Crash in California killing all the passangers on board. He was the only person left in the family before his death.
As his lawyer, I was contacted and all necessary burial arrangements were made and the remains of the family buried in the public cementary. Since then, I have made several enquiries to the sweedish embassy here and others to locate any of my clients either blood families or the extended relations. My concerted search proved abbortive. After these several unsuccessful attempts and as the last result,I decided to track his last name over the Internet, to see if I will be lucky to locate any member of his family, hence I contacted you. Perhaps, you may not be related to him but it behoves on us to seize this golden opportunity to salvage his savings since I could not locate any relation of his either dead or alive.
I have in my records his documents where he left behind the sum of Twenty Six Million,five hundred Thousand United States of American dollars (US$26.5 million) in a Finance Firm.I have contacted you to assist me in repartriating this fund left behind by my client before it gets confisicated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where this huge amount was deposited. The Bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin or have his account confisicated within the next twenty one official working days as the policy of the bank is to overrun over five years of unserviceable and dormant accounts.They have a veritable excuse as they knew that my client was dead.Since I have been unsuccesfull in locating the relations all this while, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased .This is to enable us salvage the proceeds of his account and get it paid to you instead later we shall share it. I have this obsession that if the directo!
rs of the Bank confiscated the money, it might not be put into proper and useful ventures to benefit the poor masses of this world.
I wish to use part of my share to donate to charitable organisations and churches. Therefore, should this proposal appeal to you and on receipt of your positive response, we shall then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for the claim. All I needed is a willing foreigner who will be honest, trustworthy and transperant both in business and spirit with his or her unalloyed co-operation to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate arrangements that will protect you from any breach of the law.Please get in touch with me by e- mail . You can request my phone number for further discussion on this.
Thanks and have my best regards.
Idris Al Agrabah Esq.


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