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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: joshua williams <joshuawilliams_0012@msn.com>
Reply-To: <joshuawilliams2000@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 16:27:21 +0000
Subject: PLEASE GET BACK TO ME(INHERITANCE}





Attention: Mr/Mrs.



I am JOSHUA WILLIAMS, a legal practitioner and

personal attorney to late Engineer M.N Sulak an

international contractor in the oil industry before

his untimely demise on the 27th of September 2007

United Kingdom.



Before his death, I assisted him in the deposit of

some contract funds valued at $12 million with a bank.

The funds have remained unclaimed since his death and

such unclaimed funds are appropriated and returned

tothe treasury after 4 years as a matter of banking

policy. Considering the lack of success in my bid to

locate any of his relatives for over 3 years now, I

here by solicit your consent to enable me present you

to the bank as the beneficiary Next of Kin to my

deceased client.



I am contacting you for two reasons because I strongly

believe that the Bank does not deserve to confiscate

the funds and these reasons led to my resolve to

contact you to claim the funds.



Know that this deal is 100% risk free because I have

in my possession the personal file of the deceased

which contains some of the information we shall need

to prove your legal relationship with my late client,

which means that the fund will definitely be paid into

the account of whoever I present to the bank as his

next of kin. Moreover this is a legal and risk free

transaction that does not in anyway hamper or

contravene the monetary laws of your country because

it is an inheritance fund.



All I require from you is your assurance that my share

of the funds shall be held in trust for me when it is

released into your account by he bank. Be rest assured

that the fund shall be released to you by the bank

upon presenting all the necessary legal documents that

will be used to substantiate whatever claim we make on

your behalf at the bank.



On my receipt of your consenting reply, i shall give

you a detailed briefing on this proceedings.

I await your immediate response,i appeal to your sense

of fairness,



Reply Urgently.

Regards,

JOSHUA WILLIAMS Esq.

Email:joshuawilliams2000@hotmail.com


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