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: law@officelaw.orangehome.co.uk
Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 19:50:00 +0100 (CET)
Subject: STAND AS NEXT OF KIN / BENEFICIARY


BARR JOHNSON PAULSON.(L.L.B. L.L.M B.L)
LEGAL PRACTITIONER AND CONSULTANT
MEMBER CONSTITUTION DRAFTING COMMITTEE 1995
8TH FLOOR, RUE 112 PTT. LGALO
COTONOU, BENIN REPUBLIC.

Dear Friend,

I am Barr.Johnson Paulson, An Attorney at Law in the Republic of BENIN. I am the personal Attorney to Mr. Daniel ,who bears the same last name with you, and a national of your Country who used to work with a stock Broker who also deals on comodities [petroleum products and solid minerals], whom I believe is a National of your country. This client of mine died on september 11th Terrorist Attack on WORLD TRADE CENTER in UNITED STATES.

He died on a secondary cause of the Terrorist Attack on the WTC when a Car conveying him and his wife crashed into a stationary Truck at the premises of the WTC in the ensuing confusion. The Truck actually belonged to the Fire Service Authorities of the USA and since then I have been in a legal tussle with the Authority to include the names of my client and his wife into the list of the Attacked Victims but this has not worked yet.

Before he died, my client has the sum of US$18.440,000.00 (Eighteen Million, Four hundred and Fourty Thousand US Dollars) in his account with ECOBANK LTD.Since then I have made several inquiries to locate any of his extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to locate any member of his family. This has also not paid-off. I therefore, decided to contact you to assist in claiming of the money left behind by my client as his next-of-kin, since you bear the same last name with him.

His Account will be declared "unserviceable" by the Bank if the money remains unclaimed by his relations after a reasonable time and this will mean a total loss.I therefore, seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased so that the money US$18.440m will be paid to you, then I and you will share the money.

Note that all neccesary legal documents will be in place to back up the claims. All I required is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law in both Countries. Once I have your consent and trust, I will immediately raise all the neccessary documents that will be requested by the bank to allow for them to release the fund to you without any question.

Please contact me through my private email address; barr_johnson_paulson@myway.com

PLEASE VIEW THE WEBSITE:
www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin.crash/index.html

Anticipating your urgent response to enable me give you details on how to move forward.

With My Best Regards,
BARR JOHNSON PAULSON

Anti-fraud resources: