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: kosseffst@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 04 Oct 2006 21:29:00 +0200
Subject: proposal

ATTN;SIR,
I am a staff of INVESTEC GROUP attached in Private Banking Services IN SOUTH AFRICA. I am contacting you concerning a customer and, an investment placed under our banks management some years ago, I contacted you independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this communication and I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to both of us. In 2000, the subject matter; ref: bb/inv/bank/73 Mr Arnold Kumar came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our Private Banking Services Department. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of 35 million United States Dollars, which he wished to have us turn over on his behalf. I was the officer assigned to his case; I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto chief operations officer of the Private Banking Services Department, especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed. Based on my
advice, we spun the money around various opportunities and made attractive margins for our first months of operation, this margin was not the full potential of the fund but he desired low risk guaranteed returns on investments. In mid 2001, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Europe . He directed that I liquidate the funds and had it deposited with a firm in Europe . I informed him that our bank would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to circumvent due process, the bank would have to make a 9.5 % deduction from the funds to cater for banking and statutory charges.
I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the letter and had the funds deposited in a security consultancy firm, the firm is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations that handle valuable products or undertake transactions that need immediate access to cash. This small and highly private organization is familiar especially to the highly placed and well-connected organizations. In line with instructions, the money was deposited in a security company here in south africa for onward movement to europe . He told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that week. This was the last communication we had, this transpired around 25th February 2002 . In MARCH this year, we got a call from the security firm informing us of the inactivity of that particular portfolio. This was an astounding position as far as I was concerned, given the fact that I managed the private banking
sector I was the only one who knew about the deposit, and I could not understand why he had not come forward to claim his deposit. I made futile efforts to locate him I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of our bank. We found out through our investigation that he was apparently dead. He died of a heart attack in Cannes , South of France. We were able to prove his death and obtained his death certificate. The bank immediately launched an investigation into possible surviving next of kin to alert about the situation and also to come forward to claim his estate. If you are familiar with private banking affairs, those who patronize our services usually prefer anonymity, but also some levels of detachment from conventional processes. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of private banking, opening an account with us means no one will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers and codes to make
the accounts anonymous.
What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice but I want you to understand something. There is US$ 35,000,000.00 deposited with the security company, I alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to no one unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the existence of this deposit with the security firm. The security firm has no single idea of what's the history or nature of the deposit. They are simply awaiting instructions to release the deposit to any party that comes forward. This is the situation. The investigation has come to an end. I am prepared to make you the next of kin and place you in a position to instruct the security and finance firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you in 70% for me/30% for you. I assure you that their is no risk attached to this transaction. I cannot let this chance pass me by I hope you understand because for once I found myself in
total control and face to face with my destiny. There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth undertaking. I am the only one who knows of this situation, Let's share the blessing. If you find yourself able to work with me, contact me through this email account: kosseffst@yahoo.com . If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards a conclusion as i have worked out all modalities. Please observe this instruction religiously. If we can be of one accord, we should plan a meeting, soon.Be rest assured that you will spend no money in the course of this transaction.Please indicate interest very urgently.

I await your response.


Regards,

MR STEPHEN KOSEFF
KOSSEFFST@YAHOO.COM
Private tel no;27843183330


Anti-fraud resources: