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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Robert Becks" <robertbecks04@msn.com>
Reply-To: robertbecks4@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2006 09:16:39 +0000
Subject: Hello.

Hello,

I am Barrister Robert Becks, I am the personal Attorney to late,
Mr.Michael Blair a national of your country, who was a expatriate contractor
with
the Niger Delta Development Commission. On the 12th of December 2003, my
late client, his wife and their three children were involved in a car
accident along Warri/Portharcourt Road. Unfortunately they All lost their
lives
in the event of the fatal accident.

Since then I made several enquiries in your Embassy here to locate any
of my late client's extended relatives, this has proved unsuccessful. After
these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over
the Internet, to locate any member of his family but to no avail. I have
contact you to assist me in receiving the money and properties left behind
by
my late client as a last resort, before they get confiscated. His Bank
here has the intention of declaring his account with them
dormant/unserviceable
and subsequently frozen his huge deposit with them. My Late client has a
deposit of US$15m (fifteen million U.S. dollars) with this Bank.

The Bank issued me a notice to provide my late client's Next-of-Kin or
have the account confiscated within the next 21 banking days. Since I have
been unsuccessful in locating the relatives of my client for over one full
year now, I seek your consent to present you as the Next-of-Kin of the
deceased having come from the same country, so that the proceeds of his bank
account valued at $15 million can be paid to you and then you and I can
share
the money. I propose 60% of the total sum comes to me, while you get 30%
for your involvement, 10% shall be for expenses or tax as your government
may require.

I shall make all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up
our claim that you are the Next-of-Kin available through the Federal High
Court,all procedures have been worked out.

All I require is your honest cooperation as a sincere Partner to enable
us see 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 via this email to enable us discuss
further.

Best regards,

Barrister Robert Becks.



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