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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: "William Landrith" <williamlandrith2@msn.com>
Reply-To: williamlandrith@yahoo.fr
Date: Wed, 08 Feb 2006 11:46:35 +0000
Subject: From Natwest Bank Plc, London

NATWEST BANK PLC
ST. THOMAS HOSPITAL
LAMBETH PALACE RD
LONDON SE1 7EH
FROM: WILLIAM LANDRITH
Tel: +4470 4013 172

Compliments of the season,
before proceeding, I wish to introduce myself to you; I am William Landrith a staff of Natwest Bank Plc, London working in the accounts department. I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable business proposal, which I believe, will profit the both of us after completion. I contacted you after a careful thought that you might be capable of handling this business transaction, which I explained below.

All attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I therefore made further investigations and discovered that Mr. Andreas Schranner did not declare any next of kin or relation in all his official documents, including his bank deposit paperwork in my bank. This sum of us$55,500,000.00 has been floating as unclaimed since 2000 in my bank as all efforts to get his relatives have hit the stones.

According to the British Law, the money will revert to the ownership of the British government if nobody applies to claim the fund. To avoid this money being sent to the British treasury as unclaimed funds, I have decided to seek your assistance to have you stand as his next of kin so that the said fund (us$55.5m) would be released in your name as the next of kin and paid into your account before I come over to meet you for sharing. All documents and proof that will have you claim this fund without stress will be forwarded to you upon your response to this mail more so, I want to inform you that I have unanimously agreed to offer you 30% of the sum for the assistance and role you are going to play in this transaction, 20% will be given to charity organizations while the remaining will be my share. As a Christian, I cannot stand and see this money being sent to the British treasury while the poor suffer.

Please send your confidential telephone and fax number in your reply to this business transaction.

Thanks
God bless you,
William Landrith.

Anti-fraud resources: