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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: "Mr. Robert Clive." <robertclive@mail.ru>
Reply-To: robertclive4@sify.com
Date: Sat, 18 Mar 2006 09:21:34 +0000
Subject: From Mr. Robert Clive.


Bankers Trust International
Marlborough House, Pall mall London, swiy5hx.UK
Tele:00 44 703 184 1555


I am the Manager Bills and Exchange, Foreign Operations Department of the above branch. I’m writing in respect of one Mr. Oakley a customer of my branch with A/C#: 304-1425520-04 USD, who died in April 2002 in a plane crash.

Since we got the information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come forward and claim his money because we cannot release unless somebody applies for it as the next of Kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. And since no one has come forward to claim these fund for years now, we discovered/realized that the fund (US$10.8m) with the above account number has been abandoned. I got your contact information when I visited (USA) in search of his Next of Kin or relation but could not find anyone.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I and two other senior officials in my department decided to make business with you and release the money to you as the Next of Kin or relation of the deceased for safe keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming forward for it and we do not want this money to go back into the Bank of England Account as Unclaimed Fund.

This is because the Banking Laws and Regulations here stipulated that if such money remains unclaimed after five years the money would be transferred into Government Treasury as unclaimed fund. It is in view of this that we decided to solicit your assistance to use your name as the next of kin to the deceased.

The request of a Next of Kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer is from your locality. We agreed that US$4.3M of this fund will be for your assistance, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars will be donated to charity while the rest will be for me and my partners. So upon the conclusion of this transaction and your receipt of this fund, I and two other of my colleagues will visit you for the disbursement.

Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer/release of the fund to you as stated, you must apply first to the Bank as a relation or Next of Kin of the deceased.

Upon receipt of your reply I will send to you by fax Text of the Application and the next steps to be taken. I will also not fail to bring to your notice that this business is hitch free and that you should not entertain any fear as the whole required arrangement has been made for the transfer/release of these fund to you.

Note: This transaction is confidential and risks free. As soon as you receive this letter, you should contact me at once through the above stated email address or Fax No. Thanks, trusting to hear from you immediately.

Yours faithfully,

Robert Clive

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