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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: "Osinachi Michael" <osinachimichael2@msn.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 02:01:25 +0000
Subject: URGENT REPLY

I am Mr.osinachi michael . The manager, Bills and
Exchange at the Foreign
Remittance Department of the Union Bank Plc.
I am writing this letter to ask for your support and
cooperation tocarry out this business opportunity in my
department. We discovered
an abandoned sum of uS$20.5 (TWENTY million, five
Hundred ThousandUnited States Dollars only) in an account that
belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire
family of a wife andtwo children in April 2001 in a Plane crash. Since
we heard of his death, we have been expecting his next-of-kin to come over
and put claims forhis money as the heir, because we cannot release thefund
from his account
unless someone applies for claim as the next-of-kin
to the deceased asindicatedin our banking guidelines. Unfortunately,
neithertheir family member nor
distant relative has
ever appeared to claim the said fund.
Upon this discovery, I and other officials in my
department have
agreed to make business with you and release the
total amount into
your account as the heir of the fund since no one
came for it or
discovered he maintained account with our bank,
otherwise the fund
will be returned to banks treasury as unclaimed
fund.
We have agreed that our ratio of sharing will be as
stated thus: 30 %
for you as foreign partner, 65 % for us the
officials in my
department and 5 % for the settlement of all local
and foreign
expenses incurred by us and you during the course of
this business.
Upon the successful completion of this transfer, I
and one of my
colleagues will come to your country and mind our
share.
To commence this transaction, we require you to
immediately
indicate your interest by a return e-mail and
enclose the following
information:-
1. Full name
2: Your private telephone number and Fax number.
3. Occupation and Nationality.
You are to send this information to my email address
to enable us
file letter of claim to the appropriate departments
for necessary
approvals before the transfer can be made.
Note also, this transaction must be kept STRICTLY
CONFIDENTIAL because of its nature.please you can as
well mas contact me
on my alternative email
address.osinachi_michael_12@yahoo.com

I look forward to receiving your prompt response.


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