joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Greg Lennox" <g.lennox@consultant.com> (may be fake)
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2006 16:58:45 +0200
Subject: The Chairman/Managing Director!

The Chairman/Managing Director,

Dear Sir,

My name is Greg Lennox. I am resident in The United Kingdom. I am also a sales manager in a financial consultancy firm here. My company is mandated to source for
reliable investors the world over to invest available funds in profitable business ventures. This is why I am making this contact.
This funds are made available by some third world leaders and the pool is close to a billion US dollars. Depending on your experience and the proposal you will
forward to us, we will determine a suitable amount to remit to you to kick off the business you intend to invest in. You will manage this business without interference for
a period of three years, after which, the profit on investment will be shared after taxation.
The investment areas are not limited and may include new businessess or injection of funds into existing firms that, of course, are profit oriented. Bearing in mind that you
are not authorised to invest in public companies or government agencies, you can incorporate a firm fully owned by you based on the laws of your country or invest this
money in a private company as a share holder. You can equally trade stock or export and import goods as may be profitable. Fresh funds may also be invested to enlarge
the business if the prospects are good.
All these are without ANY liability to you as this is a risk that the fund owners are ready to take.
You will be required to meet with us to finalise arrangements on how to move the agreed funds into your account and sign related documents that will authorise you to
manage this money on our behalf. A draft agreement will be forwarded to you to enable us finetune all gray areas and ensure a smooth take off.
Please reply to this mail and I will forward more information to you. All we need is to assertain your credibility, resourcefullness and experience. Please reply to; g.lennox@consultant.com.
I earnestly await your response.

Regards,

Greg Lennox



Anti-fraud resources: