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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: ALFRED CHANG LIM <alfredchanglim@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 11:27:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Hello....


Attention:Isaac Beytah
Firstly, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction,this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential and top secret.Before I introduce myself, I wish to inform you that this letter is not an hoax mail and I urge you to treat it with seriousness. We want to transfer the sum of Nine Million Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($9,700.000.00) to an oversea account from one of the banks located in Malaysia. I want to ask you, If you are not capable to quietly look for a reliable and honest person who will be capable and fit to provide either an existing bank account or to set up a new Bank a/c immediately to receive this money, even an empty A/C can serve to receive this money, as long as you will remain honest to me till the end of this important business ,I am trusting in you and believing in God that you will never let me down either now or in future.

I am Mr.Alfred Chang Lim a personal account officer to late INDUSTRIALIST Dr Lucas Beytah. During the course of auditing,it was discovered that since the death of this INDUSTRIALIST no one has come forward to lay claim to this funds. So the bank issued me a memo to provide his next of kin or forfeit the funds. This account was opened with the bank in 1998 and since 2002 nobody has operated on this account again, after going through some old files in my records,I discovered that my late client died without a [Heir/WILL] hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing.The owner of this account is an American and great industrialist who lost his life along with his family members leaving nobody as next of kin.

No other person knows about this account or any thing concerning it,the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as well that the account is a secret account. The total amount involved is Nine Million Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only [$9,700.000.00] and we wish to transfer this money into a safe foreigners account abroad,but I don't know any foreigner, I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money can not be approved to a local person here,rather it will only be approved to a foreigner who has information about the account,which I shall give to you upon your positive response.

I am revealing this to you with believe in God that you will never let me down in this business, you are the first and the only person that I am contacting for this business, so please reply urgently so that I will inform you the next step to take urgently.I need your strong assurance that you will never let us down, me and the key bank officials who are deeply involved with me in this business. I guarantee that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

The bank official will destroy all documents of transaction immediately we receive this money,leaving no trace to any place. I will use my position and influence to obtain all legal approvals for onward transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance from the relevant ministries and foreign exchange departments.

At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 25% of the total amount,70% will be for us, while 5% will be for expenses both parties might have incurred during the process of transferring. I look forward to your earliest reply. PLEASE, TREAT THIS PROPOSAL AS TOP SECRET.

Please email me at: Barristerchanglim@myway.com

Best Regards,
Mr Alfred Chang Lim


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