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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: "Mr.Don Smith" <mrdonsimth0@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mrdonsimth088@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 15:23:34 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: NOTICE NOTICE NOTICE


From:Mr.Don Simth,
RoyalBank Of Scotland Int'l Ltd,
66 Cannon Street, London EC4N.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr.Don Simth, a personal accountant to Late Mr. Andreas Schranner, a German property magnate who lost his life on the 31July 2000, along with his wife, Maria and their children and even grand children in a plane crash. The AF4590 crash include all 109 people on board and five who died on the ground when the plane crashed into the otelissimo. Refer to the website below for more details:

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

Since then I have made several inquires to locate any of my client's extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessful attempts, I have decided to contact you to act as the next of kin by assisting in repatriating the money in his account with Royal Bank Of Scotland. The Bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin within the next 14 official working days or the account declared unserviceable and confiscated. The amount in question is 20,500,000.00 (Twenty Million five hundred thousand Pounds Sterling only).

Therefore, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the Late Mr. Andreas Schranner so that the 20,500,000.00 (Twenty Million five hundred thousand Pounds Sterling only) can be paid to you and then we (you and I) can share the money.Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your assistance to invest part of my own share in
your Country. Let me hear from you urgently by Email me for more detail.

Best Regards,
Don Simth.

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