joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "sani abacha" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
  • "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
• This email message is a next of kin scam.
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • stanley_williams2002ng@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: stanley williams <stwilliams2004ng@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:45:23 -0800 (PST)
Subject: ATTN; MY DEAR


Dear Friend,

My name is MR STANLEY WILLIAMS, I work in the credit and
accounts department of Union Bank of Nigeria
Plc, Lagos, Nigeria.

I write you in respect of a foreign customer with
Domiciliary A/C number 6402356789. His name is
Engineer JOSEPH DUDLEY. He was among
those who died in a plane crash here in Nigeria during the reign of late General Sani Abacha.

Since the demise of this our customer, Engineer
JOSEPH DUDLEY, who was an oil merchant/contractor,I have kept a close watch at his deposit records and accounts and since then nobody has come to claim the money in this account as the Next- of- kin to the late Engineer.

He had US$2.5Million in his Account and the
a/c is coded. It is only an insider that could produce the code or password of the deposit particulars. As it stands now, there is nobody in that position to produce the needed information other than my very self considering my position in the bank.

Based on the reason that nobody has come forward to
claim the deposit as the deceased Next -of- kin, I hereby ask for your co operation in using your name as the next of kin to the deceased to send these funds out to a foreign offshore Bank Account for mutual sharing between you and I. At this point I am the only one with the information because I have removed the deposit file from the safe to avoid any prying eyes.

Given this position, what is required of you is to send an application laying claims of the deposit as next of kin to the late Engineer.

I will need your full name and address, company or
residential, so that i can computerize them to tally
with the next- of- kin column in the certificate of deposit.

Finally I want you to understand that the request for a foreigner as the next- of- kin is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and for that reason alone, a locale cannot represent as his next of kin. When you contact me, then we shall discuss on how the money will be split between us.
Trusting to hear from you, I remain
stanley_williams2002ng@yahoo.com

Respectfully yours,

STANLEY WILLIAMS

---------------------------------
Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam