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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: "Daniel Williams" <danielss523@hotmail.co.uk>
Reply-To: danielwilliams202za@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 04 May 2007 11:35:43 +0100
Subject: Families wiped out in crash

From The Desk of;
Barrister Daniel Williams
{Solicitor Advocate}
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA.

I am Barrister Daniel Williams,a solicitor at law. I am the personal
attorney to Mr. Brian Hoekstra, a national of your country, Here in after
shall be referred to as my client. On the 31st of July 2000, my client, died
along with his entire Family in Air France Concorde plane crash heading for
New York in their plan for a world cruise, visits the site below.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm


All occupants of the plane unfortunately lost their lives. Since then I have
made several enquiries to your embassy here in Johannesburg to locate any of
my clients extended relatives this has also proved unsuccessful.

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I have contacted you to assist in
repatriating the money and property left behind by my client before they get
confiscated, frozen or declared unserviceable by the bank where these huge
deposits were lodged. Particularly, Amalgamated Bank of South Africa (ABSA)
where the deceased had an account valued at about Seven million United
States Dollars (USD7,000,000:00).The management has issued me a notice to
provide the next of kin or have the account frozen within the next ten
official working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 6years i
am requesting you to present yourself as next of kin, the fact is occasioned
that the deceased (customer) was a foreigner, and i have access to his
detailed bio data which you will hold as a weapon to present yourself as the
next of kin. So that the proceeds of this account valued at USD7,000,000:00
can be paid to you and then you and me can share the money. 60% to me and
40% to you I have all the necessary legal documents that can be used to back
up any claim we may make. And these I must do to make sure that this fund is
not wasted or end up in the wrong hands. All I require is your honest
co-operation 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.

Best Regards,
Barrister Daniel Williams Esq.

_________________________________________________________________
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