joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: David Richards <mrdavid.richards@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:37:33 +0100
Subject: I REQUIRE YOUR CONSENT TO PROCEED


Citi Finance Bank UK
25 Maiden Lane Covent
Garden London WC2E 7JS
 
Dear Friend,
 
Do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not
meet your personal ethics. I will introduce myself as Mr
David Richards, a staff in the accounts management
section of the above firm here in the United Kingdom.
This is the detail of what i want you to assist me in doing,
One of our accounts with holding balance of 4,000,000
(Four Million British Pounds) has been dormant and has
not been operated for the past five (5) years. And now we
are in the mid month of April of the year 2006.From my
investigations and confirmations, the owner of this account,
a foreigner by name (Kurt Kahle) died in July, 2000 see this

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

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. I have secretly discussed this matter with
a senior official of this company 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 legitimate and does not originate from drug, money
laundry, terrorism or any other illegal act. On receipt of your
response I will furnish you with detailed clarification as it
relates to this mutual benefit transaction.I look forward to
hearing from you as soon as possible if you are interested
and with your trust.And also furnish me with the following
informations
 
YOUR FULL NAMES..............
YOUR TEL/FAX NUMBERS.....
YOUR COUNTRY.................
YOUR OCCUPATION............
 
As soon as i recieve the above informations i will give you
the contact of the bank chairman who will also clearify you
more on this transfer.
 
Regards,
Mr. David Richards

Anti-fraud resources: