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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: "Lesley Davidson" <lexyrazzi@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2006 10:08:19 +0000
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL LETTER TO YOU.

 
Lesley Davidson

First National Bank SouthAfrica

Johannesburg.

Private E-mail:lesley24_davidson@yahoo.com                                                          

                                    CONFIDENTIAL LETTER TO YOU.

ATTN:PLEASE.
I am Lesley Davidson, the chief accountant of first National bank (FNB).
There is an account open in this bank in 1999 and since 2001 nobody has
operated on this account again.After going through some old files in the
records, I discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently it
would be forfeited for nothing. The owner of this account is Mr. Smith B.
Andreas, a foreigner, and a miner at Kruger Gold Company, a Geologist by
profession and he died since 2000.No other person knows this account or
anything concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my
investigation proved to me as well that this company does not know
anything about this account and the money involved is Thirty Six Million
United States Dollars (US$36 Million). I want us to first transfer US$6
Million from this money into your safe overseas account before the rest. I
am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be
approved to a local bank here, but can only be approved to any foreign
account because the money is in United States Dollars and the former owner
Mr. Smith B. Andreas is a foreigner too. I know that this message will
come to you as surprise as we don;t know ourselves before. We will sign an
agreement, but be sure that it is real and a genuine business. I only got
your contact information from my secretary who operates computer; with
believe in God that you will never let me down in this business,
considering my position as a public servant.
You are the only person that I have contacted in this business; so please
reply urgently so that I will inform you the next step to take
immediately.Send also your private telephone and fax numbers including the
full details of your account to be used for the deposit. I want us to meet
face-to-face and sign a binding agreement to bind us together so that you
can receive this money into your account where the fund will be safe. And
I will fly to your country for withdrawal and sharing and other
investment.
Meanwhile, I am contacting you because of the need to involve a foreigner
with foreign account and foreign beneficiary. I need your full
co-operation to make this work fine because the management is ready to
approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of this
account, which I will give to you as soon as you indicate your sincerity
to co-operate with me, and capability to handle such amount in strict
confidence and trust according to my instruction and advice for our mutual
benefit because this opportunity may never come again in my life. I need a
truthful and God fearing person in this business because I don;t want to
make a mistake so I need your strong assurance and trust. With my position
in the office I don;t want anything that will jeopardize my job so I
advice that we should make secrecy and confidentiality our primary working
condition, bearing in mind that I am a public servant.I will also use my
position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward transfer of
this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms of the
ministries and foreign exchange department. At the conclusion of this
business, you will be giving 35% of the total amount, 60% will be for me,
while 5% will be for expenses both parties might have incurred the process
of the transfer. I look forward to your earliest reply.Please Contact Me
With My Private E-mail:lesley24_davidson@yahoo.com for security reason.
PLEASE NOTE THAT YOUR PRIVATE PHONE AND FAX NUMBER IS HIGHLY NEEDED IN
THIS TRANSACTION TO ENABLE ME CALL YOU AND DISCUSS MORE ABOUT THIS TRANSFER.

Yours sincerely,

Lesley Davidson.


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