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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: coly ferdinand <colyferdinand109@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <colyferdinand@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 23:51:50 +0200
Subject: FROM Mr Coly Ferdinand/GOOD DAY Tom



FROM Mr Coly Ferdinand
Cocody Cités des Arts,Abidjan--CoteD'Ivoire
GOOD DAY Tom,

I beg your excuse for the inconveniences that this mail may cause to you.
My name is Mr Coly Ferdinand,I work with one of the Banks here in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire. I am the personal accounts manager to one Engr. Tom wilmon a National of your country, who owned a construction company here in Ivory Coast (Cote Ivoire).My client, his wife, and their three children were involved in the ill fated Kenya Airways crash in the coasts of Abidjan in January 2002 in which all passengers on board died..

Since the death of my customer, I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any of my clients extended relatives but has been unsuccessful. After several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name over the internet, to see if I could locate any member of his family hence I came across your contact.

Of particular interest is this huge deposit with our bank here in, where the deceased has an account valued at about US$15 million United States dollars. Being the personal a/c manager of the deceased's bank account, the bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin/beneficiary or else the bank will declare the account unserviceable and thereby forfeit the funds to the bank treasury.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over the past 2 years now,I hereby seek your consent (with due respect and honour) to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have the same last names with him, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you and then you and I will share the money 50 / 50.All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal through.

However, I urgently need you the following information from you which I have to plase in the computer file of the deceased as next of kin/beneficiary: -1- your full name, -2- your date of birth -3- resident address.and i will like you to send me your telephone and fax for easy communication I guarantee that this will be executed under all legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

Need you be interest, kindly reach me via my private email as for further details.

Thanks in advance as I anticipate your maximum cooperation in this regards.
Mr Coly Ferdinand
_________________________________________________________________
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