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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: "dr james uba" <dr_james_uba012@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: drjamesuba_3@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 10:33:01 -0500
Subject: From Dr James Uba.

Dear friend,

My name is Dr James Uba. Chief Credit Officer (CCO),Union Bank. Sorry to
have to bump on you like this. Please dont be offended. When you get bacK to
me i would explain how i came about your coordinates. On December 6, 2000, a
Foreigner, Mr.Peter lee, made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve
calendar months, valued at $61,000,000.00,u.s dollars. in my branch. Upon
maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no
reply. After a month, I sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his
employers, that Mr. lee died from an automobile accident. On further
investigation, I found out that he died without making a Will, and all
attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. I therefore made checks and
found out that Mr. Smith did not declare any next of kin or relations in all
his official documents, including his Deposit paperwork here.

>From past experiences, I know that no one will ever come forward to claim
the deceased funds. According to my country Laws, at the expiration of 5
(five) years, the funds will be Unclaimed and revert to the ownership of the
State if nobody applies to claim the fund. In order to avert this
development, I in conjunction with a colleague (the Chief Operating Officer
in the bank) now seek your permission to allow an attorney do a backdated
WILL in your name, so that the funds would be released to you as the new
owner (on behalf of me and my colleague). We are writing you because, as
public servants, we cannot operate a foreign account or have an account that
is more than Five Hundred thousand in my country's currency.

Consequently, I will present you as the owner of the funds so you can be
able to claim them with the help of an attorney. This is simple. I will like
you to provide immediately your: FULL NAMES/FULL CONTACT ADDRESS/PHONE/FAX
NUMBERS, so that an Attorney will prepare the necessary papers which will
put you in place as the new owner. It will then be released to you, for us
to split. The Attorney will do all the paperwork and this will guarantee
everything. Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details
and further explanation that will help you understand.

Note also that we shall require your assistance to invest our share in your
country. (Buying of properties like houses, hotels etc).

Thanks and regards.
Dr James Uba.



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