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: "ATTN:next-of-kin"
Date: Wed, 8 Nov 2006 20:03:36 +0100
Subject: ATTN: next-of-kin:

ATTN: next-of-kin:

I am Mihailov Efim a Russian by Birth. I am the Personal Assistant to late Mr. Semen Gorbachova a very
rich businessman and his wife Mrs. Anzhela with there two children that was involved in a Plane crash of
a Russian commercial jet crashed in Ukraine on Tuesday, it was announced on CNN you may view the
link below for your record;

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/08/22/russia.crash/index.html.

I am contacting you to assist me in repatriating the funds he left behind before they get confiscated, the
funds is deposited with FINANCE HOUSE where the deceased had valued at about US$27m (twenty
seven million dollars).I seek your consent to contact the FINANCE HOUSE as the next-of-kin of the
deceased of valued at US$27M can be paid to you immediately.

We shall share the money thus: 60% to me and 35% to you, while 5% will be used to reimburse any
expenses that might be incurred on both ends and to service the tax that might be incurred in your
country. I have all the necessary legal documents that will be adjusted to favour you and to back up any
claim we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of the law and you are to follow all instructions from me to meet this claim. Please keep this
transaction very confidential:

Please contact me on my private email: MihailovEfim1@aim.com

Yours truly.

Mihailov Efim


Anti-fraud resources: