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: "sam " <samotunfsb57@rediffmail.com>
Date: 27 Mar 2007 01:57:45 -0000
Subject: URGENT.


FSB International Bank Plc.45 tiamu savage avenuevictoria island lagos. customer care line:234 1 870966fax:234 815289
Dear Sir,
My name is Sam Otun, I am presently a branch manager at FSB International Bank Plc.I turned 59 years old on the 5th of January this year. I have been working in the Banking Industry for over twenty-five years and have gone through the ranks. I am a family man with children.Let me also state in unequivocal terms that I am not interested in your money. I will handle the bills involved and if at any point I am unable to cope, we will borrow from a financier to complete the job.All I require from you are full and complete trustworthiness, absolute confidentiality and honesty.&nbsp;Going to the point, the funds in question US$25M was personally deposited by Mr. Boris Kauscher in January of 2003. As the Bank Manager and being directly in charge of his account which I monitored for him, I always kept him informed on the performance of his deposit. He had not contacted me for a while before I got to learn of his demise from his friend Mr. Ralph Macklin, whom I assisted in procuring a loan from my bank to execute an offshore oil deal. As a matter of fact, Mr. Ralph Macklin is not aware of the deposit. However, we finally learnt of his demise officially from his contract employers.&nbsp;It has been and is still standard practice in my bank for auditors to check the banks activities quarterly and of course this deposit of US$25M is normally a subject of discussion during their visits since it is a reasonably large investment for the bank.
During their last visit however, I informed them of the demise of Mr. Boris Kauscher and also informed them that he left a next of kin, whom I have been making effort to contact. &nbsp;At this point I had no idea why I informed them in this manner as I was actually hoping that the next of kin would show up sooner and it was to my banks credit to keep the funds within the banks coffers for as long as possible. I wrote my report on this immediately and sent this in to our head office; the Corporate Relations Department normally handles issues like this at the head office. My head office has not so far made any headway in tracing any possible liens on the account and the Ministry has not been very helpful either. It was while following up on this matter with the Ministry that I got my idea.&nbsp;I now feel very strongly that no one will ever come forward to claim the funds. According to my country’s law of succession, at the expiration of four years, the money will revert to the Government of Nigeria in trust for any future beneficiaries. I have never been able to find out exactly for how long the government can hold property or assets in trust, but it is now obvious from what I have found out, that our Government has never made a reversion of estate.I consulted a lawyer friend as regards making a Will without revealing my real intentions by not being specific. It was the outcome of this discussion that prompted my resolve that my plan will definitely work, coupled with the fact that I head the affairs of the bank. Hence I am giving you a total risk free assurance.&nbsp;My assurance to you is not based on my having experienced this before but is based on the saying that goes \"it is not because things are difficult that we do not dare, rather it is because we do not dare that things are difficult\". Secondly \"daring ideas are like chess men moved forward, they may be beaten or initiate the strategy for winning a game.
As a result I therefore made up my mind to seek a foreigner who will stand as the beneficiary of the Will and receive the funds. Being that Mr. Kauscher is a foreigner and foreigners who work in expatriate capacity are issued an expatriate quota which enables them repatriate a certain percentage of their earnings to their home country. I sincerely hope and believe that you would not betray me as I have taken a leap of faith in making this contact with you.
If anything goes wrong from your end, I would leave everything to posterity.&nbsp;At this point I wish to assure you after my discussions with the lawyer that the transaction poses no risk to your person in any great form, considering the fact that you would only be contacted with a Will in which you are named as the beneficiary of the estate of the deceased and all you really have to do is to employ the services of a lawyer in Nigeria who would do all the necessary work with the courts and the probate of Wills registry and get the funds transferred to you legally.&nbsp;Upon preparation of these documents and approvals from the Ministry of Justice, the Federal Ministry of Finance, then our correspondence bank will now transfer the money to your nominated account. The attorney will handle all the processes of obtaining the approvals on your behalf. All these processes will be accomplished within 10 working days (approximately two weeks) and the money will be transferred to your account. The very good thing about this transaction is that it will be done in a very proper and legal manner. Please provide your personal information as follows:&nbsp;(i) Name of Beneficiary(ii) Beneficiary\'s Address.(iii) Phone and Fax Numbers.I am the inside man who will do all the background work and you are the only person who can expose my involvement based on my correspondence with you.&nbsp;I await your response and plead with you to maintain total confidentiality regarding my proposition, even if you decide not to go along with me on this plan.&nbsp;I await your response,please for active communication reply all your mail to this box&nbsp;Best regards,Sam Otun.

Anti-fraud resources: