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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: Fredrick Ardo <fredrick_ardo699@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <ardo_fred@rediffmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2007 20:49:27 +0100
Subject: Re: Late Engr. Raymond Gerald Estate



From Fredrick Ardo(Esq)
Fred & Co Chambers
80 Avenue De La Republic
Cotonou,Benin.
Re: Late Engr. Raymond Gerald Estate I am Fredrick Ardo,barrister & solicitor at law,the Late Engineer Raymond Gerald was my client.He was an American, who used to own Oil service stations in Cotonou Benin.My late client and his immediate family lost their lives in an auto accident along Parakou Major Expressway in Benin Republic since August 15th 2004.I do not know of any of my client's living kin but I went ahead and made several inquiries at your embassy to see if I can locate any of my client's relatives even though extended,but this was not successful. I only did it so as to be double sure of this fact. I have contacted you to assist me in repatriating the money left behind by my late client,because I was reliably informed by the manager of the bank where this money is that should there be no claim on it by the end of November 2007,it will be declared unclaimed.And the consequence of this is that the ownership of the unclaimed money will revert to government.But I do not trust this government takeover of the money,because most of the senior bank officials are corrupt,so I fear eventual embezelment of the fund.This money,with the last calculation of accumulated intrests,is valued at $5.217M(Five Million Two Hundred And Seventeen Thousand US Dollars).

Having failed in all my past attempts at locating the relatives for over two years now I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of to the deceased so that this account valued at $5.217M will be paid to you,then you and I can share the money at a ratio we shall agree upon later. In pursuing this claim,I have to assure you that there will be no problems,sinceI can obtain all the required legal documents to back up this claim and everything will be done within the frame work of the law.I will eaqually need to get your assurance of parnership. I anticipate your urgent reply.

Yours sincerely,

Fredrick Ardo(Esq).

N/B:Please include in your reply your phone number,names,address,sex,age,occupation and marital status.
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