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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: "Dr. Richard Mbuto" <richardmbuto@zwallet.com>
Reply-To: richardmbuto@netscape.com
Date: Sat, 01 Jan 2000 14:34:03 +0100
Subject: BUSINESS INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY


Dear Friend,
I am Dr. RICHARD MBUTO , a director in the corporate finance / Private Banking department in one of the leading foreign banks here in Milan , Italy I have an urgent and very confidential business proposition for you.
In 1999 Mr. Morris Thompson made a numbered time fixed Deposit valued at US$9,500,000.00, (Nine Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars) in my branch for
seventy-two months ( six years ).
Upon maturity last year ( 2005 ), I sent out a routine notification to his forwarding address in Fairbanks, Alaska but got no reply. After further investigation , we discovered that he died in January 31 , 2000 along side with his family . You can find more of this stories on
http://archives.cnn.com/2000/US/02/01/alaska.airlines.list/.
For now this story is only known to me and my regional manager , who has my support in contacting you. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and my regional manager now decided to make business with you and release the money to you as the next of kin /
beneficiary of the funds for safe keeping and investment. Since nobody is coming for these funds and we don't want this money to go back into Government treasury as unclaimed bill.
We agreed that 25% of this money will be for you if you assist us in claiming this fund, while the balance will be for my colleague and I. Note that this transaction is confidential and risk free. As soon as you receive this mail you should contact me through my e-mail address
( richardmbuto@netscape.net and richardmbuto@gawab.com ) for further details.
Please note that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds to you as has been finalized and this fund is not linked to scam / money laundering and its alike.
Upon the receipt of your response to assist I will be able to put you in a clearer picture of what next to do.Do bear in mind if this transaction does not interest, please discard this e-mail and do not use it against me as what I am doing will risk me of my job I have labored for years if exposed.
I crave your indulgence to make this a top most secret
Yours Faithfully,
Dr. RICHARD MBUTO

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