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.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "ALFRED IKECHUKWU" <dralfredikechukwu3@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: dralfredikechukwu@myway.com
Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2006 19:33:41 -0500
Subject: PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANT/VERY UGENT

CLUSTAR CHAMBERS,
LEGAL PRACTITIONER AND PUBLIC NOTARY &
HIGH COURT REPRESENTATIVE
15 ALLEN AVENUE,
IKEJA, LAGOS.

ATTN:Dear Sir/Madam

I am Barrister Alfred Ikechukwu (San), the Personal Attorney to a Foreign
Contractor,who owns a farmland here in Nigeria. On the 24th of April 2002,
my client, a German Nationality, Late Engineer William Halzeinger, a farmer
engineer, until his death four years ago in a ghastly motor accident along
Sagamu Expressway, Lagos, NIGERIA. Since then I have made several inquiries
to Several Embassies to locate any of my clients 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. Then
I have to contact you to assist me in repatriating the money 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
$7.5Million has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin,relatives so
that the fund left will be transferred or have the account confiscated
within the next twenty official working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 4 years
now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased so
that the proceeds of this account valued at US$7.5Million can be paid to you
and then you and I can share this money. 60% to me and 30% to you,while 10%
should be for expenses or
tax as your Government may require.

All I require is your honest and co-operation 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. I will want
you to send to me on your return email the following information for the
transfer in your favour
1, Your full Name
2, Your contact Address
3, Your private phone, fax numbers for easy communicating for each
others, I await your kind response,Please if you are interested and capable
in handling this deal with me, And note that the nurture of this deal needs
a very top secrecy.

Best Regards,
Barrister Alfred Ikechukwu.


Anti-fraud resources: