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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: datton murdoch <datton@datton.orangehome.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:34:04 +0100 (CET)
Subject: UK BUSINESS


Dear Friend,
I wish to approach you with a request that would be of immense benefit
to both of us. I am an attorney based in Scotland United Kingdom. I want you
and I to make some fortune out of a situation that I am obviously left with no
other better option. The issue that I am presenting to you is a case of my
client that willed a fortune to his only daughter. It is unfortunate that he
and his daughter died on the London Bomb attacks of 7th July 2005. The wife
died of heart attack on receiving the sad news a week after. I am now faced
with a problem of getting a trusted person who I will make the beneficiary
that I would pass the fortune to. And according to the law such fortune is
supposed to be bequeathed to the government if there is not any relatives or
next-of-kin of the decease that would surface for claim of the fortune.
However, I personally don?t belong to such school of thought that
proposes that such fortune be given to the government because this is cheating and is
possible that the top government officials for their own selfish
interest could divert the fortune. Because of this I am contacting you to seek your
acting as the beneficiary of the will. I am my client attorney and I alone knew
about his will. Upon indication of your interests, all I will do is to amend the
will by fitting in your name as the supposed next-of-kin and back it up with a
sworn affidavit, which automatically became valid. This amendment should be
between us and must not leak out to anyone. It is absolutely confidential.
I have complete information of his bank account details with an
outstanding balance of $48,550,000.00USD ($48.550 Million USD). To make you be sure
of this, I can provide you with details of his bank to enable you to log
on to his account to confirm this balance. I know that you would be apprehensive
and feel that this is a big sum, but it does not matter because this is a legacy
being passed on to a next-of-kin and you are the available next-of-kin.
As I am not very sure of getting your consent yet on the issue, I
prefer not to divulge my full identity so as not to risk being disbarred. Until I am
sure of your consent and full cooperation then I will not be afraid to give
you my full identity. In the meanwhile, I would prefer that we maintain
correspondence by email and fax. At this point I want to assure you that your true
consent, full cooperation and confidentiality are all that are required to enable us
to take full advantage of this golden opportunity.
I shall make representation to the legal courts to facilitate the
amendment process within three working days. Since this is a transaction of
immense benefit to both of us, I would want that we shared all expenses
according to our agreed sharing ratio of the fortune. The sharing ratio shall be 60%
for me and 40% for you. This shall also be applicable to all expenditures that
would be incurred in the course of the transaction because I wouldn?t want
either of us to feel cheated. Please note that this is a legal and risk free
transaction that does not in anyway hamper the monetary laws of your country. It is
an inheritance fund.
If you are interested to work with me, please provide me with your
name,address, nationality, age, and date of birth, height, and phone and
fax numbers as required for the amendment of the will. On completion of this, I
will send you a copy of the amended will which you will fax to the bank with a
back up specimen letter written which you are to transcribe into your company
letter headed paper requesting for the release of the fund to you as the
rightful beneficiary. I will also write to the bank as the legal representative
of my client before his demise, ordering for the transfer of the fund to you,
as the beneficiary of his will.
I will appreciate your urgent response via my private email(dattonwilfred@yahoo.com) in this regard. Thanks for your
anticipated cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
Barrister Datton Wilfred(esq).

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