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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: "Mr. Gordon Andrew Williams" <natwestgroup01@sympatico.ca>
Reply-To: mrgordon@takemail.com
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 15:54:08 +0000
Subject: Re: Re: Grand Felicitation and Request

From The Desk of Mr. Gordon A. Williams
Head of Foreign Operations
City of london office,
1 Princes Street,
London EC2R 8BP,
United Kingdom.
Dear Partner,

Do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your personal
ethics. I will introduce myself as a staff in the accounts management
section of a well-known bank here in the United Kingdom.

Through some discret search from my local chambers of commerce, you were
revealed as being quite astute in Entrepreneurship. One has no doubt in your
ability to handle an international business of considerable TRUST, which may
form the bedrock of an extensive business partnership in the future.

PROPOSITION:

One of our accounts with holding balance of £15,000,000(Fifteen Million
British Pounds) has been dormant and has not been operated for the past 5
years.

And the DEPOSIT will be converted to UNCLAIMED DEPOSIT and therefore
forfeited if nobody comes forward to lay claim to the deposit before the end
of this financial quarter, as is the practice and also indicated in the EU
banking guidelines.

From my investigations and confirmations, the owner of this account a
foreigner by name Austin Martins died in August 2001 and since then nobody
has done anything as regards the claiming of this money because he has no
family members who are aware of the existence of neither the account nor the
funds. Also Information from the National Immigration states that he was
also single on entry into the UK.

I have secretly discussed this matter with some of the bank officials and we
have agreed to find a reliable foreign partner to deal with. We thus propose
to do business with you, standing in as the next of kin of these funds from
the deceased and funds released to you after due processes have been
followed.

This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is a
legitimate and does not originate from drug, money laundering, terrorism or
any other illegal act. On your interest, let me hear from you.

Regards,
Mr. Gordon A. Williams
Phone: +447040124533.

DISCLAIMER:
This message contains confidential information and is intended only for
specified addressee. If you are not the named addressee you should not
disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail. The sender therefore does not
accept liability for any errors or omissions in the contents of this
message, which arise as a result of e-mail transmission. Please note that we
reserve the right to monitor and read any emails sent and received under the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception of
Communications) Regulations 2000


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