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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Tim Doxtin <tim_doxtinprivate@tiscali.it>
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2005 22:54:47 +0100
Subject: MUST READ INFORMATION (URGENT & IMPORTANT)

Dear friend,

First and foremost I am trusting you with this matter in this mail, with the hope and prayers that you would keep every information you get from me strictly to yourself no matter what, whether you are ready to corporate and assist or not. After reading and reasoning, you can then make your own decision of exactly what you are going to do.

My name is Tim Doxtin. I live in the Republic of Ireland. I am a Solicitor and I have a very unusual mutually Beneficial proposal for you. I have a late client who was an influential wealthy businessman, he was involved in Real estate and Farming here in Ireland and he left behind a deposit of Twelve Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollar in a safe keeping Account with a Finance house here in Dublin Ireland. After the death of my client his bankers contacted me as his Attorney to provide his next of kin who should inherit his fortune. The board of directors of his Finance house adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his next of kin for the payment of this money within 28 working days or forfeit the money to the Finance house as an unclaimed fund and used to serve their personal interests. The bankers had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me.

I came about your email in an unusual circumstances. After searching through various means for any relation of my client I had to go to your countries Embassy to find a solution. But still they were not able to assist me. It was an officer from the embassy who later gave me a genealogical search formula that I can use to locate any relative of my client with his correct information. Convinced that you may be linked with my late client or that you might provide clue to my search, I therefore, decided to contact you with these facts before me because of the situation now .By virtue of my closeness to the deceased and his immediate family, I am very much aware of my client financial standing and the bank account he operates.

I have reasoned very professionally and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the next of kin of my deceased client, so that you can be paid the funds left in his bank account, hence I contacted you. I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to the Deceased since you are at an advantage as nationals from the same country, so that the proceeds of this Bank Account valued at Twelve Million, Two Hundred Thousand United States Dollar can be paid to you. I shall assemble all the necessary Legal Documents that will be used to back up our claim. I have assessed what it is going to cost to gather together the required legal documentation and have noted that it will take Twenty two thousand dollars. This is more than I have, but I am willing to do this over here. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us see this deal through and for you to also invest one thousand seven hundred and fifty euros which is the mandatory handling charges required by the Finance house.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of law. Please get back to me.

Yours truly

Tim Doxtin

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