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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: "Richard Martin" <mrrichard_banks@yahoo.co.in> (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 14:10:51 +0400
Subject: LETTER FROM U.A.E

Greeting Am Richard Martin of the bills and exchange at the foreign remitance department of a bank here in
United Arab Emirates . I am offering this proposal to solicite your support and cooperation to carry out this urgent
business transaction.
Precisely on the 22nd in November 2004 .A very prominent client of ours, the fisrt Man Sheikh Zayed Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan
passed away while undergoing surgery in U.K.Before her death,I personally managed several
accounts for her including those for her pet project child care trust[C.C.T].During an internal
investigation conducted by her lawyer and myself we discovered an abandoned sum of money,$28.565[Twenty
Eight Million Five Hundred and Sixty Eight DOLLARS. Since her demise, Nobody has approached the bank
to claim the money because he did not indicate anyone as her next of kin and besides the details of the
account are still been kept secret by myself and the lawyer,who incidentally is the only signatory to the
account.
In line with this present scenario,I have decided to contact you on behalf of the lawyer to
release the money to you for safe keeping.we have agreed that you can have 40% of the money as a foreign
partner thereafter we will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated.
The law and guidelines of the banking industry in United Arab Emirates stipulates that any account with above
$1,000,000 that remains domicile for a period of four months after the holder's death is subject to
investigation and verification by the Bank's internal auditors,after which if no claim has been laid to
it,the money will be transferred to the bank's treasury.Also as a result of the activities of the
regulatory Bodies involved, we cannot claim the money unless it is transferred into a foreign account
Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of the money to you, the details of bank account
number,telephone no and other relevant informations are needed urgently.The lawyer will take care of all
legal documents involved while i on my part will ensure the speedy transfer of the funds to you.
Please your reply is urgently required as we have less than four months before the internal auditors
begin their investigations. You can contact me through
the email address mrrichard_banks@yahoo.co.in
Hope to hear from
you soonest.
Richard Martin


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