joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: steve rodrick <steverodrick44@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 13:38:51 +0100 (BST)
Subject: very important


From: Steve Rodrick
Private Email: steverodrick44@hotmail.com OR
steve_rodrick44@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: Inheritance Fund
Date:3rd sept 2007.

Hello

I apologize if the contents hereunder are contrary to your moral ethics, But please treat it with absolute secrecy and personal courtesy.

I am Steve Rodrick an Auditor of a commercial Bank here in the United Kingdom, in the the process of auditing our bank accounts I and one of my colleagues discovered that there is a dormant dollar account valued at the sum $10,000,000.00 (Ten million united states Dollars) and after due verification of this account we discovered that the account owner is late and that is why the account has been dormant and as such a $10,000,000.00 has been lying in the bank unclaimed.

The idea of presenting somebody who is not related to our late customer to act as his next of kin came into my mind that was how and why we have contacted you to present you as his next of kin, so that the $10,000,000.00 will be paid to you and we can both disburse the fund according to the percentage we will agree on.
In view of this, I am seeking for your co-operation and understanding to stand as the next of kin to our deceased customer, to enable us claim the fund from my bank.

Hence, If this proposal is OK by you and you do not wish to take undue advantage of my trust that I hope to bestow on you. Please kindly get back to me immediately, strictly via my private email address only at steverodrick44@hotmail.com OR steve_rodrick44@yahoo.co.uk to enable me enlighten you on how we are to proceed.
On getting your response, we shall agree on the percentage of disbursing the $10,000,000.00 between us, as we intend to invest part of our own share in any lucrative business in your country, and we would appreciate if you can put us in the right part investing in your country. I will not contact any person or company until I hear from you, so as to enable me decide on what to do next.

Be rest assured that this business is 100% risk free.
We await for your prompt response.
Regards,
Steve Rodrick


---------------------------------
Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.

Anti-fraud resources: