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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: "pollycap franza" <pollycapfranza@yahoo.com.sg> (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 29 Jul 2006 20:24:03 +0200
Subject: reply urgent

Dear,Sir
I am pollycap franza Esq, my client is one of the top Managers of Europan
Bank Deutschland Branch and his colleague in the same
bank here in the Austria have an urgent and very confidential
business proposition for you.On June 6th, 2001, a Chinese business man, Mr.
CHOW Lee, deposited in his personal safety deposit vault currency valued at
17,500,000.00 (Seventeen Million, Five Hundred Thousand EURO) in my client's branch.Upon expiration of the period of
leasehold of his safety deposit vault Two years ago, my client sent a routine
notification to his forwarding address but got no reply.
Some months ago,a reminder was sent and finally it was discovered he had passed away.On further investigation, it was discovered that he did not leave a WILL
and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. Further
investigations revealed that Mr. CHOW Lee did not declare any next-of-
kin in all his official documents in my clients' bank.This sum of
17,500,000.00 is still in the Vault which was opened and the keys changed upon the
expiration of the period of leasehold by my clients.Consequently, my
proposal is that my clients will like you as a foreigner to stand in
as the next of kin to Mr. CHOW Lee. This is simple. I will like you to
provide me immediately with your full names and address so that by virtue of my
position as an attorney, I will prepare the necessary documents and
affidavits, which will put you in place as the next of kin.
I shall do the drafting and notarization of the WILL and obtain the necessary
documents and letter of probate/administration in your favor for the shipment of
the funds through a courrier company to you. The money will be shipped by
courier to you for us to share in the ratio of 80% for me and my
clients and 20% for you. I hope that is okay.There is no risk at all as all
the paper work for this transaction will be done by me as an attorney and
the position of my client as the Branch Manager guarantees the successful
execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please reply
immediately via email. If on the other hand you are not interested
please disregard this mail and I will not contact you again.
Upon your response, I shall then provide you with my phone number, more details of the transaction and the relevant documents that will help you understand.
Please observe utmost confidentiality and be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for all of us.

Best regards,

pollycapfranza Esq




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