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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Steven Charpman" <mrsteven_charpman8@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: steve_charpman03@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:59:30 +0000
Subject: BE PROUD AND ASSIST ME(pls do not delete)

I'm Mr Steven Charpman,
Director incharge of,
Auditing and accounting unit,
Ecowas Bank in Cotonou,
Benin-Republic of,
West Africa.

My Dear Friend,
I guess this letter may come to you as a surprise since I had no
previous correspondence with you. I got your contact e-mal from my
person researching through internet and I decided to propose to you
this business in strict confidence.

I AM MR STEVEN CHARPMAN, the director incharge of auditing and
accounting Unit of ECOWAS BANK in Cotonou-Benin Republic. In our
Bank,we discovered the sum of Fifteen million United States Dollars
(USD15M) belonging to a deceased customer of this bank. The fund has
been lying in a suspence account without anybody coming to put claim
over the money since the account owner late Dr.KHIDIR HUSSAIN. from
lebanon, who was involved in the December 25th Benin plane crash.

Since Dr.KHIDIR HUSSAIN died, I have personally watched with keen
interest to see the next of kin who will come to claim this fund,
which has been in our bank for a very long time. However, nobody
has shown up, On this note, I approach you in other that we discuss
and agree on terms as partners, so that I will use my postions in
the bank to change the formal beneficiary to your name as the next
of kin.

The money will be transfer into any account you may provide. The
banking regulation here in Benin does not allow such a huge amount
of money to remain dormant more than four years, the bank will
usually recall the money to the treasury as an unclaimed deposit.
In view of this, should you indicate any positive interest, let me
know your terms regarding the transaction.

Please indicate your interest in this transaction by making your
personal mobile and fax number available to me. You can reach me
anytime with my e-mail. below.

And remember this deal is carring 100% ( percentage) which is that
you will have 40% for yourself, 10% is for the expences you and i
will spend and 50% is for me if you agree in this we can start
immidetly as long as i recieve your email.

I'm waiting for your prompt response and this transaction shall
remain both confidential and secured, to avoid people in our bank to
notice this deal.

Email:steve_charpman03@yahoo.com
Mobile:(+229)93890599.

I am waiting to here from you as soon as you are through in my
proposal.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Steven Charpman.

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