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:
  • "huge sum of money" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "your humble assistance" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
• 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.
  • marshallnoel23@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "josephhills marco" <josephhillsmarco@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:37:33 +0100
Subject: Let's Have a Mutual Understanding.


Attn: Sir/Madam,

I am Brian Noel Marshall, Senior Staff, with Banco Occidental here in
Madrid- Spain. I am contacting you with regards to a business transfer for a
huge sum of money in a dormant account. I need your assistance to transfer
to overseas Nine Million, Five Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States
Dollars Only (US$9,550.000.00).

I am seeking your humble assistance to provide either an existing bank
account or set up a new Bank account to receive this fund, even an empty
account can serve this purpose, or you help to seek an honest and, reliable
businessman who can assist us. Though I know that a transaction of this
magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you
that this transaction is being handled by me and my colleagues, who are also
departmental heads in the same bank. We decided to contact you due to the
urgency of this transaction.

During the course of our auditing we discovered a floating fund in a
domiciliary account opened in the bank in 2000 and since 2004 nobody has
operated on this account, after going through some old files in the records
we discovered that the owner of the account who is a foreigner died in
Madrid Bombing of 11th of March 2004,without any traceable next of kin hence
the dormant nature of the account and if nobody come to claim this funds it
will be re- channel to government coffers as unclaimed funds.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner that bears the same last name with
the depositor because this money cannot be approved for a local account as
the depositor is a foreigner, the fund can only be approved to a foreigner
or into a foreign account.

I need your full cooperation to make this project a success, as I will use
my office to see that the transaction is hitch free and to ensure that this
transaction is accomplished. Should this meet your interest, do get back to
me, so that I will have you briefed more about this transaction. Upon your
response I will inform you on the steps ahead and your compensation for
providing an account for this transaction. If you find yourself capable of
working with me, contact me only through the emails address below.

Please observe this instruction with the utmost care. I send you this letter
not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences may be, but I know
within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and
riches never come easy or on a platter of gold. If this proposal is
acceptable by you, do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed
in you, I await your swift response via mail.mrbrain@live.com

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Marshall Brian Noel.
Email: marshallnoel23@yahoo.com

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam