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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "royal home" <royalbrunei2@hotmail.co.uk>
Reply-To: princehakeem@o2.pl
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 10:56:25 +0000
Subject: Did you receive the first mail?

Salam! Funds Alert! Please respond urgently
Hello,
I am contacting you for an Urgent Business Transaction and further
explicit
investment assistance in your country. Based on the information and
recommendation satisfactorily gathered concerning your person, I hereby
needyou to read this email message carefully because it is very
imperative.
I am PRINCE HAKEEM BOLKIAH, the eldest son of PRINCE JEFRI BOLKIAH
who was
the former Finance Minister of Brunei. Brunei Darussalam is a small
country
located in the northwest of the island of Borneo and governed by His
Majesty
SHEIK HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH MU'IZZADDIN WADDAULAH. I will save your
time by
not amplifying my extended Royal Family history which has already been
disseminated by the international media during the controversial
dispute
that erupted between my father and his stepbrother, the sultan of
Brunei
SHEIK HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH. You can visit the websites below for a
better
understanding of the situation:-
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/670959.stm>
<http://www.asiaweek.com/asiaweek/magazine/2000/0310/nat.brunei.jefri.html>
As you may know from the international media, the Sultan had accused my
father of financial mismanagement and impropriety of USD14.8 Billion.
This
was as a result of the Asian financial crisis which made my father
company
Amedeo development Corporation(ADC) and government owned Brunei
Investment
Agency(BIA) to be declared bankrupt during his tenure in office. PRINCE
JEFRI BOLKIAH was relieved of his post as Finance Minister of Brunei
and was
stripped of his chairmanship post as head of the nation's international
investment arm, the Brunei Investment Agency in February 1998. The
Agency
controls 13 compnies & Brunei's overseas assets. In July 1998, SHEIK
HAJI
HASSANAL BOLKIAH barred trading by Amedeo Development Corporation when
the
world's biggest corporate debt of USD14.8 Billion came to light. In
September the 1998, the Sultan ordered an investigation of the BIA by
accountants KPMG after the Brunei government alleged that"large sums of
money" had been misappropriated to companies controlled by PRINCE JEFRI
BOLKIAH. The Sultan then asked the Bank of England to help track down
an
alleged 28 Billion British Pounds of state and family funds said to be
"missing". On the 02/10/1998 PRINCE JEFRI BOLKIAH flew from London in a
private jet and was going to settle matters directly with SHEIK HAJI
HASSANAL BOLKIAH. PRINCE JEFRI drove straight to his seaside palace at
Jerudong, about 10 miles south of the capital, Bandar Seri Begawan as
he was
due to meet with officials of the Amedeo Development Corporation and
visit
the sultan. After series of meetings relations between the Royals
appeared
to deteriorate quickly. However,my father was arrested, his Bank
Accounts
and private properties including a crude oil export refinery & three
large
oil wells which were later confiscated by the sultanate. During this
unfortunate period i was advised to evacuate my immediate family
outside the
sultanate to avoid further prosecution from the sultan and his security
operatives. Before I could do that I was placed under house arrest by
SHEIK
HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH. Before my arrest, I went ahead to dispatch the
sum of
USD$1 Billion in cash under special arrangement into the custody of
different Offshore Banks and Private security and Trustee companies for
safe
keeping abroad. The money where split and kept in the following
countries in
this proportion: USD$500 Million is in different offshore Bank accounts
while the rest are with Private Deposit & Trustee companies with:-
USD$50
Million is in England, USD$100 Million is in Spain, USD$100 Million is
in
Arabia, USD$80 Million is in United Arab Emirate the balance USD$70
Million
in India and USD$100 Million in Malaysia. I am unable to reach my
friends &
associates whom would have provided all the much needed moral and
financial
assistance i require to release the funds because my private/personal
diary
was seized by my uncle SHEIK HAJI HASSANAL BOLKIAH who also happens to
be
the Sultan of Brunei. I seek your good will & assistance to receive and
invest these funds into profitable business investment in your country
to
facilitate future survival for me and my family abroad. I am counting
on
your absolute transparency, honesty and confidentiality which this
transaction deserves while looking forward to your prompt reply. I
await
your Urgent Reply.
Best Regards,
PRINCE HAKEEM BOLKIAH


Anti-fraud resources: