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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: "kelly isidingo" <umutu1@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 2006 11:12:22 +0000
Subject: VERY IMPORTANT

Dear Sir,
I am Mr. Joseph Khumalo manager of bills/exchange at the foreign remittance
department of ABSA Bank. In my department, we discovered an abandoned sum of
US$14,700,000.00 (Fourteen Million, Seven Hundred Thousand United State
Dollars only) in an account that belonged to one of our customers who died
along with his entire family, on November 1996, in a ghastly plane crash,
and he happened to be a Foreigner. Since we got the information about his
death, we have been expecting his next-of-kin to come over and claim his
money because we can not release it unless somebody applied for it as next
of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.
Unfortunately, nobody has come forward to claim this money.

It is based on this that some officials in my department and I have decided
to establish a cordial business relationship with you, hence by contacting
you. We want you to present yourself as the next of kin through your
relation with the deceased, so that the funds can be remitted into your
account.
Moreover, we do not want the money to go into the government account as
unclaimed bills. The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that any
account abandoned or is dormant for a period of years, is deemed closed and
all money contained therein forfeited to the government treasury account.

Now, it is being speculated that the above sum will be transferred into the
government account as an unclaimed fund on or before the end of this
financial quarter of 2006, when nobody come forward to lay claims. The
reason for requesting you to present yourself as next of kin, is occasioned
by, the fact that the deceased (customer) was a foreigner, and we have
access to his detailed bio data which you will hold as a weapon to present
yourself as the next of kin.
The mode of sharing after a successful transfer of the money into your
account, shall be 75% to my colleagues and I, for the role you will be
expected to play in this deal, we have agreed to give you 20% of the total
sum and 5% for the expenses we are going to encounter by the two parties in
the course of this transaction. Therefore, you are expected to reply this
letter indicating your readiness and interest to participate in this
business. After receiving your reply, you will be communicated to with the
exact steps to take.
I expect your urgent response through my email address:umutu1@msn.com. With
the following info.
(1) Your full name and address.
(2) Your telephone/fax and cell number
And i shall contact you for further discussion on this matter, to enable us
conclude this transaction urgently without any delay or hitch.
Please treat this business proposal as strictly confidential for security
reasons considering my official position in ABSA Bank.
Personal Regards,
Mr. Joseph Khumalo

_________________________________________________________________
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