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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: "Martins Dike" <barristermartinsdike080@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: martdike01@katamail.com
Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2005 10:10:11 +0000
Subject: NEXT OF KIN TO LATE ENGR. MICHAEL JONES

Dear Sir/Ma,

I am Barrister Martins Dike Solicitor; I am the Personal Attorney to Engr.
Michael Jones national of your country, who used to work with Chevron
development Company in Nigeria.

On the 21st of April 2002, Engr. Michael Jones, his wife and their three
children were involved in a car accident along Lagos/Shagamu Express Road.
Unfortunately they all lost their lives in the event of the accident, since
then i have made several enquiries to your embassy to locate any of his
extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several
Unsuccessful attempts, i decided to trace his relatives over the Internet,
to locate any member of his family but of no avail,hence i contacted you. I
got your contact from a Web directory i got from your embassy.

I contacted you to assist in repatriating the money in addition, property
left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared
unserviceable by the bank Where this huge deposits were lodged.
Particularly, the bank where the deceased had an account valued at about
US$25.3 million dollars.

Consequently, the bank issued me a notice to provide the Next Of Kin or have
the account confiscated within the next twenty official working days. 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 since
you are from the same country, so that the proceeds of this account valued
at US$25.3 million dollars can be paid to you and then you and me can share
the money. 50% to me and 40% to you, while 10% should be for expenses or tax
as your government may require.


I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim
we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us sees this
deal through. 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 my private email : martdike@katamail.com to enable us
communicate further and also your telephone numbers

Best regards,

Barrister Martins Dike .{esq.}


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