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.

 

 

Please note about this email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Cathy Lopez" <info_cathy@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2005 02:06:45 +0000
Subject: THANKS

Attention:
Dear Friend,
PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL
My name is Sarah Williams, I am the auditing manager in a bank here in London with branches in africa and asia . I am contacting you of a business transfer,
of a sum of money from a deceased account. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one
apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that everything has been well taken care off, and all will be well
at the end of the day. I decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction.To ease your apprehension i want you to know that this transaction is %100 risk free and you must contact me with this email for the safty of this transfer because there are alot of scarmist parading themselves about. I am also a member of the DEBIT RECONCILIATION COMMITTEE
PROPOSITION; My late husband was the account officer of a foreigner, named; Gerald Welsh who died in an air
crash along with his wife plus my husband on the 31st October 1999 in an Egyptian airline 990 with other
passengers on board. You can confirm this from the website below which was published by
CNN.WEBSITE. http://www.cnn.com/US/9911/02/egyptair990.list/index.html
Since his death, none of his next-of-kin are alive to make claims for this money as his heir, because they all died in the same accident(May his soul rest in peace). We cannot release the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. Upon this discovery, I now seek your permission to have you stand as a next of kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked out by me for the funds (US$5,000, 000.00) to be released in your favour as the beneficiary's next of kin. Because after four years the money will be called back to the bank treasury as unclaimed bills and the money shared amongst the directors of the bank. so it is on this note i decided to seek for whom his name shall be used as the next of kin/beneficiary to this funds rather than allow the bank directors to share this money amongst themselves at the end of the year. It may interest you to know that we have secured from the probate an order of mandamus to locate any of the deceased beneficiaries. Please acknowledge receipt of this message in acceptance of our mutual business endeavor by furnishing me with the following information if you are interested. kindly note that i just stumble acrose this transfer document and i have made investigation from the bank, the money is still there nobody will ever come for it.
(1).A Beneficiary name;.In order for me to prepare the PAPERPWORK for transfer of the funds in your name.
(2).Details particulars of your contact address.
(3).Direct Telephone and fax numbers;
  For our personal contact. I shall be compensating you with 20% of the total sum which is ONE million dollars (US$ 1 Million dollars) on final conclusion of this project for your assistance, US$500,000 will be given to charity from your locality based on your recommendation while the balance US$3.5 million dollars shall be for me for investment purposes.
Because I intend to retire after the conclusion of this transaction. If this proposal is acceptable by you, please endeavor to contact me immediately. Do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed in you by informing you of this transaction from my bank as I will advise you to kindly desist from responding at all if you do NOT intend to render any assistance. Endeavour to respond via my confidential and official email address  cathylop337@gmail.com
 or call me on +44-703-194-2033 for detail information.
Kindly note that you will not pay a dime on this transaction all i want is your name so that i can send the application to the bank using your name as the beneficiary to the claim.
Thanks and best regards,
 
CATHY LOPEZ

Anti-fraud resources: