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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Willam Cole <willamcole011@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <willamcole1950@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:39:26 +0000
Subject: From Mr. William Cole




Dear Sir, This is a personal email directed to you and I request that it should be treated as such. I am William Cole, a lawyer and solicitor at law. I am the personal attorney/sole executor to my late client, hereinafter referred to as’ my client' who worked as an independent oil merchant in my country Uk before he died in a car crash with his immediate family on the 5th of Nov, 2004. I carried out this search on you and I am contacting you because you bear a similar last name with that of my late client and the further reasons are as follows: Since the death of my client in Nov, 2004, I have written several letters to his embassy with an intent to locate any of his extended relatives whom shall be claimants/beneficiaries of his abandoned personal estate and all such efforts have been to no avail. However, going by the recent publications by the Trustee bank in which my client deposited the sum of $30.8m Dollars, I fear a likely winding up proceedings in the coming months. I seek your consent therefore, to present you to the trustees as my client's next of kin since you bear a similar last name with him so that you can help repatriates the money to a foreign account and I promise a fair share of 60%-40% in my favor for you at the end of the transfer. If you are very interested, contact me through my email address or call me as soon as possible and I shall appraise you with the full details. I want to assure that I have all the requirements to execute this claim. Like I said, I require only a solemn confidentiality on this. Please let me have your opinion as soon as possible and send to me your telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further on this transaction. Give me a call at your earliest convenience. Best regards,Willam Cole esq.(Airkam Chambers)+447045736396

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