joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +2348033204519 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • smithdouglasunionbanknigeriaplc@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: smith douglas <smithdouglasunionbanknigeriaplc@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Jun 2006 02:54:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: confidential


>From The Desk of: Dr. Smith Douglas
Union Bank Of Nigeria Plc,
Telegram: Eco Broad Branch
Big Strong Reliable,
Head Office, 36 Marina
Lagos Nigeria.
Telephone number: 234-803 -3204519.
Email:smithdouglasunionbanknigeriaplc@yahoo.com
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am Dr Smith Douglas, an Account officer at the Foreign Remittance Department of Union BANK PLC,Lagos Nigeria. I am writing following the impressive information about you from our chambers of commerce and industry.
In my department, we discovered an abandoned sum of US$14.5M (FOURTEEN MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ONLY), in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who died along with his entire family in November 2003 in a plane crash.
Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies as a next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidelines.
Unfortunately we learn that his supposed next of kin or relations died along with him at the crash leaving nobody behind for the claim.
It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in the department now decided to make business with you that is, to release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the decease since nobody is fronting for the money and we do not want this fund to go into disbursement account as unclaimed bill.
The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after four years the money will be transferred into Federal Government account asunclaimed fund.
The request of a foreigner as next of kin in this business is occassioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and an indigene can not stand as a next of kin to a foreigner. We agreed that 30% of this money will be for you as the foreign partner and 10% for expenses incurred during the cost of remittance/delivery of the fund. Therefore to enable immediate transfer of the fund to you as arranged, you should contact me with this e-mail address below immediately for further briefing. (smithdouglasunionbanknigeriaplc@yahoo.com)
Please include your phone and fax numbers when replying and call me on the above direct phone number for us to proceed immediately hence i have made the necessary and final arrangement to that effect.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Dr. Smith douglas.
Union Bank Of Nigeria Plc .
Note:Your response sholud only be on the above email address and telephone number only for confidentiality.


---------------------------------
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail Beta.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam