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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: alex_umar1@alex4all.com
Date: Sat, 05 Aug 2006 02:45:55 +0200
Subject: CORPORATE BUSINESS

Dear Friend

I am Mr. Alex Umar, a Senior Accountant with a BANK In Ghana. On 14
October 1999, an American mining consultant/contractor

with the Ghana Agip
Energy and Natural Resources plc, Mr.Andreas Schranner made a numbered
time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve (12) calendar months, valued at

US$7.200, 000.00 (SEVEN MILLION, TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND US
DOLLARS)
in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification
to his forwarding
address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a Reminder and finally we
discovered that Mr.Andreas Schranner was dead. He died in the plane crash
of 31 July 2000,below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm


I therefore made further investigation and discovered That

Mr.Andreas Schranner did not declare any next of kin or relations in all his
official documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank. This
sum of US$7,200,000.00 is still sitting in my Bank and the interest is
being rolled over with the principal sum at the end of
each year. No one will ever come forward to claim it. According to
Ghanaians Law, at the expiration of 10 (Ten) years, the money will revert to
the ownership of
the Ghana Government if nobody applies to claim the fund as unclaimed fund.


Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a Foreigner to
stand in as the next of kin to Mr.Andreas Schranner so that the fruits of
this old man's labour will not g! et into the hands of some corrupt
government officials. This is simple, I will like you to provide
immediately your full names and address and your private
phone/fax numbers. So that I will prepare the necessary documents and
affidavits that will put
you in place as the next of kin. A bank account in any part of the
world that you will provide will then facilitate the transfer of this money
to you as the beneficiary/next of kin. The money will be paid into your
account for us to share in the ratio of 50% for me and 50% for you.

There is no risk at all as all the paperwork for this transaction will
be done by the attorney and my position as the Branch Manager
guarantees the successful execution of this transaction.
All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this business
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will
protect you from any breach of the law. If you are interested, please reply
immediately to my private email
alex_umar1@alex4all.com

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us
because I shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country.

Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and
relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction


Best regards,

Alex Umar


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