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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 about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Geoffrey Bell" <geoffreybell@sympatico.ca>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:42:43 +0000
Subject: FUND INHERITANCE

Geoffrey Bell & Co.
(Financial consultant & Solicitors)
Email: geoffreysolicitors@gmail.com
Fax: 44870 068 9826, 44 870 478 9110.

Dear Partner,

I apologies for sending this mail to you but this is a matter of urgency and
I would like to clarify this matter with you my name is Mr. Geoffrey Bell ,
Solicitor and financial Consultant to late Mr. Andreas Schranner a property
magnate and building contractor based here in the U.K.

On the 25th of July 2000, my client Andreas Schranner, 64, his wife Maria,
62, their daughter Andrea Eich, 38, her husband Christian, 57, and their
children Katharina, eight, and Maximilian, 10, died in the Air France
concord 990 plane crashes over Hotelissimo on July 25, 2000.They were bound
for New York in their plan for a world cruise. For more information about
this crash and people, visit this

Website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

since then I have been managing his investments here in the U.K and on his
direction liquidated these investments into cash and deposited the proceeds
into his local account.

My client was a successful and an accomplished family man, who made enough
fortune before his untimely death. He left behind a large deposit in his
investment account in financial institution here upon his death the
financial institution contacted me as his financial consultant and attorney
to provide them with a next of kin since the person he provided for them
died with him in the crash leaving a vacuum to be filled.

I had made several inquiries on my own to locate his next of kin but all has
proved unsuccessful. I even contact his country’s embassy here. Two weeks
ago, the bank adopted a resolution and I was mandated to provide his next of
kin for the payment of this fund within 28 working days or forfeit the money
to the bank as abandoned by the owner with no trace of next of kin. The
bankers had planned to invoke the abandoned property decree of 1936 to
confiscate the funds after the expiration of the period given to me.

I tried to locate a next of kin on my own but had no head. Despairing at the
point of exhaustiveness, I contacted the US consulate here in the UK and
fortunately, they forwarded your name, to my utmost amazement; you are from
the same state with my client.



I am convinced that it was by the grace of God that made me to locate you.
Hence my mail to you It is my belief that you may be linked with my late
client or that you might Provide clue to my search, I therefore, decided to
contact you with these facts before me because of the urgency of the
situation presently.

By virtue of my closeness to the deceased and his immediate family, I am
very much aware of my client financial standing. I have reasoned very
professionally and I feel it will be legally proper to present you as the
next of kin of my deceased client so that you can be paid the funds left in
his bank account.

I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to the Deceased since
you are qualified as coming from the same country with my client, so that
the full proceed from his Bank Account valued at $12.2 Million Dollars can
be paid to you.

I am proposing a negotiated commission for my legal services. I have all the
required information and shall assemble all the necessary Legal Documents
that will be used to back up our claim all I require is your honest
co-operation to enable us seeing this deal through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that
will protect you from any breach of the law. Trust me as his personal
consultant that this is a risk-free transaction. Please get back to me
immediately.


I will bring you into a more detailed picture of this transaction when I
hear from you.

You may contact me through my alternative email box:
geoffreysolicitors@gmail.com or Fax: 44870 068 9826, 44 870 478 9110.

Please provide your personal e-mail for further correspondence.

Best regards,
Mr. Geoffrey Bell


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