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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: Michael Diop <mic_diop3@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <michaeldiop@mixmail.com>
Date: Thu, 31 May 2007 16:36:17 +0000
Subject: From Mr. Michael Diop


Compliments!! First, I must apologise to you for using this medium to communicate about this transaction, though it is my great pleasure in writing you this letter on behalf of my colleague and myself. My name is Mr. Michael Diop, Bank Manager and Account Officer of the late customer in one of the leading banks in Dakar-Senegal. I am writing to you this urgent proposal following the impressive information about you which I got from international Web Directory. My colleagues and I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end. I would be brief and direct to ensure you understand everything properly. I am contacting you to handle a unit trust confidential project which involves a huge sum of money valued $13.7 Million United States American Dollars.This fund was deposited by a late customer Mr. John Schelpert who banked with us some years ago before death took Him and his entire family in the Egypt Air Flight 990 accident in October 31, 1999. Since we got information about his untimely death, the fund has been dormant in his account with my Bank without any claim, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased and the person must be a foreigner as indicated in our banking guidelines. From our observation in the bank, we discovered that the owner of the account died without a Heir/WILL hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing. The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after Eight (8) years, the money will be transfered into the Bank treasury account as unclaimed fund. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and some of my colleagues in the bank now decided to make this businness proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we do not want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill so that this man`s efforts will not be taken by some corrupt Government official for their self needs. Meanwhile the whole arrangements to put claim over this fund as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased and transfer this money to a foreign account has been put in place. Directives and needed information will be relayed to you as soon as you indicate your interest and willingness to assist us make this deal a success, also we all will benefit from this great business opportunity. We could have done this deal on our own, but because of our position in this country and the bank going by ethics of the bank here we are not allow to operate foreign account in whatsoever. It is laydown rules and regulations guiding all financial houses here in my country. This is the actual reason why We contacted you as a foreigner/third party that will forward the claim as the next of kin to the Bank and also present a safe foreign account where you will need the money to be transfered into after due verification and clearification by the bank. May I at this point emphasize to you that this transaction, all modalities and arrangement have been perfected, and as an insider of the bank I have the capacity to monitor all the stages and the process of this transantion and make sure that there won`t be any problem or trace after the transfer. After the successful conclusion and transfer of this fund in your account, you will be entitled to your own share of the total sum as gratification We have agreed that 25 % of this money will be for you as our foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 5% will be set aside for any expenses incured during the business and 70% would be for me and my colleagues. There after I and my colleague will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated. Your own share is still negotiable as long as it is reasonable. Please, you are adviced to keep this information a top secret as we are still in service and intend to retire from service after we conclude this deal with you. I will be monitoring the whole situation here in this bank until you confirm the money in your account and ask us to come down to your country for subsequent sharing of the fund according to percentages we shall agree upon. All other necessary information will be sent to you on your acceptance to champion this transaction with us. I suggest you get back to me as soon as possible indicating your readiness to be part of this transaction. Please do call me on my direct line for more clearifications and elaborations: 00 221 4611 209 Thanks in anticipation of your positive response. Yours FaithfullyMr. Michael Diop
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