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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: BARR.BENJAMIN@zipmail.com.br
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2006 04:58:16 -0700
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?GREETING=20TO=20YOU=21=21=21?=

BEN MARTIN & ASSOCIATES
LEGAL PRACTITIONER,SOLICITOR,
ATTORNEY AT LAW
3, ALLEN AVENUE,IKEJA,
LAGOS-NIGERIA
EMAIL:barr_mbenjamin1@yahoo.co.uk

Dear Friend,

I humbly crave your indulgence in sending this mail, if the contents does
not meet with your personal and business ethics, I appologise in advance.
But it is in regards to your present status and the urgent nature of this
matter that I choose to contact you for the necessary assistance.It is important
I start by introducing myself.

I am Barrister Benjamin Martins, a legal solicitor. I was the Personal Attorney
to late Engineer Christian Eich, a national of your country, possibly could
be your brother, who used to work as a crude oil contractor/merchant with
CHEVRON PETROLEUM COMPANY-NIGERIA.

Sadly, Engineer Eich and his wife, their two daughters alongside his In-laws
were involved in a plane crash aboard German Concorde AF4590. Engineer Christian
Eich was flying to Newyork to join a Caribbean cruise on a vacation, It
was unfortunate that my client and his family all lost their lives in the
crash with other passenger on their way to Newyork. Refer to the link below;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm for details as reported
by BBC.

As his lawyer, I had been mandated to present his next of kin so that his
estates would be transferred to him/her. But for over five years now, I
have not been able to locate any of them after traveling to his country
on several occasions.

I got your contact in one of my search for someone that would be sincere
and trust worthy and has the ability and reliability to prosecute this kind
of deal of great magnitude worth a huge sum of money belonging to my late
client Engr. Christian Eich deposited in a bank account here in Nigeria.

Before my Client died, He had a huge fund deposit valued at about Nine million
U.S. Dollars in his account with Eco Bank Plc. And as his personal Attorney,
I am in possession of all legal documents, which shows the entire transaction
between him and this Bank in relation to this fund deposit.
Consequently, the Bank mandated me to look out for any of his extended family
relatives to stand-in as the next of kin/beneficiary of this fund deposit.
Since then I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of
my clients extended family relatives, but to no avail.
Unfortunately, the bank manager called me on phone this morning to inform
me on an ultimatum of ten working days placed on me by its Board of Directors
to produce the next of Kin to my Engineer Christian Eich or have this fund
confiscated and declared unserviceable. This is why I have contacted you
to render me this assistance in repatriating the money and properties left
behind by my late client, before it will be confiscated or declared unserviceable
by this bank.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating any of Engineer Eich's relatives
for over six years now, and coincidentally you bear similar name and also
from same country as Late Engineer Eich, that is why I seek your consent
to present you as the next of kin/beneficiary of late Engineer Christian
Eich's fund deposit with this Bank for our mutual benefit.

For your assistance, I will adequately compensate you with 40% of the total
sum. 50% will be for me, and 10% will be set aside to offset all incidental
expenses that might be incurred in the course of this transaction. E.g.
phone call, payment of tax if so required by your government, etc. I must
assure that this transaction is 100% risk free as I have all necessary legal
documents to back up all our claims. I guarantee you that the entire transaction
will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from
any breach of the law, as all documents/affidavit required by Eco Bank Plc.
before the release of the fund shall be procured legally from the federal
law court.

All I require from you is your consent, sincerity and cooperation, and please
realize that the confidentiality of this arrangement must be maintained
from now, and even after the successful completions of this transaction,
to enable us see this deal through.

If you will assist me, Please contact me via my private email box: barr_mbenjamin1@yahoo.co.uk
for more further details.

Thanks to you in anticipation and God bless.

Regards,
Barrister Benjamin Martins







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