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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mike_ben1@ymail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:10:35 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From Dr Mike Ben, Attorney to Late Mr Peter Lund.


I have a new email address!You can now email me at: mike_ben@ymail.com



- From Dr Mike Ben, Attorney to Late Mr Peter Lund. Dear friend, I am a Lawyer to late mr Peter Lund here in Jakarta Indonesia. I am writing following an opportunity in myoffice at will be of immense benefit for both of us. I discovered an abandoned sum of $22.1million,( Twenty Two Million One Hundred Thousand Dollars) in an account that belongs to my client Late Mr.Peter Lund an American who unfortunately lost his life in the Tsunami disaster in Thailand 2005 including his wife and only daughter.Since the bank got information about his death, they have been expecting his next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because the bank cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in their banking guidelines. Unfortunately I learnt that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter died along with him in the Tsunami disaster leaving nobody with the knowledge of this fund behindfor the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I and one other officials in this bank now decided to make business with you and release the money to you as the next ofkin or beneficiary of the funds for safety keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we don't want this money to go back into Bank treasury as unclaimed bill. The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that such money remained after five years the money will be transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed funds. We agreed that 30% of this money will be for you as foreign partner,10% will be use to upset expenses that might incure on the cours of making this transaction a success while 60% will be for me and my colleague. I will visit your country once the deal is concluded for the disbursement of the fund according to the percentages indicated above once this money gets into your account. Please be honest to me and trust is our watchword in this transaction.Note this transaction is confidential and risk free.As soon as you receive this mail you should contact me by reply mail.Please note that all necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these funds tao you has been finalized.We will discuss much in details when I do receive your response.Please respond. Best regards, Dr Mike Ben.


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