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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: "msayadkiafyd msayadkiafyd" <msayadkiafyd@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2008 16:35:59 +0200
Subject: Immediate Attention


Hello,



I am Prince Fayad Musa Bolkiah, the eldest son of Prince Jefri Bolkiah,
former Finance Minister of Brunei, the oil-rich sultanate on the Gulf Island
of Borneo. I will save your time by not amplifying my extended royal family
history, which has already been disseminated by the international media
during the controversial dispute that erupted between my father and his
stepbrother, the sultan of Brunei Sheik Muda Hassanal Bolkiah. As you may
know from the international media, the sultan had accused my father of
financial mismanagement and impropriety of US$14.8 billion dollars.



This was as a result of the Asian financial crisis that made my fathers
company Amedeo Development Company and government owned Brunei Investment
Company to be declared bankrupt during his tenure in office. However my
father was kept under house arrest, his bank accounts and private properties
including a crude oil export refinery were later confiscated by the
sultanate.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/670959.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/681413.stm



Furthermore during this unfortunate period, I was advised to evacuate my
immediate family out of the sultanate to avoid further prosecution from the
sultan, but before I could, I was placed under house arrest with no access
to phone, but I have a laptop which I use to communicate.



However, before my arrest, I dispatched the sum of four hundred, twenty
million United States dollars (US$420,000,000.00) valued private safety
deposit with the assistance of a foreign diplomat who resides in Europe. The
funds have now been deposited as safety deposit / family valuables into
different private security and trust company for safe keeping abroad.



The funds (safety deposit) was split and kept in the following countries in
this proportion: $170 million in Spain, $190 million in France and $60
million in Holland. I kindly require your assistance as a representative
designate / foreign partner to claim and invest these funds into real
estate/properties to guarantee the future of my family, beginning with that
in France. If you are prepared to render your sincere assistance, do not
fail to contact me immediately to furnish you with details of this proposal.




For your assistance, you will receive 45% of each funds claimed and another
5% will be set aside to defray any expenses that maybe incurred during
claim.



Please I count on your absolute confidentiality, transparency and trust
while looking forward to your prompt response towards a swift conclusion of
this business transaction through my email address as thus:
yadbolka@lycos.com



Thank you & May Allah's blessing dwell upon you.



Yours sincerely,


Prince Fayad M. Bolkiah.

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