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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: "Mr. Charles Brown." <c.brown@chambers.org>
Reply-To: c.brown1945@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 12:39:23 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Greetings..




Greetings

I am Mr. Charles Brown, a Canadian Attorney based in Manchester, United
Kingdom and the personal Attorney to Late Mr. Mark Michelle. Late Mr. Mark
Michelle was a private oil consultant/ contractor with the Shell Oil in
Saudi Arabia before his death, hereinafter shall be referred to as my
client.

On the 3rd day of January 2004, my client and his wife along with their
two children were among the victims of Boeing 737 Egyptian Airliner that
crashed into the Red Sea. You can read more about the crash by visiting
this website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/3365769.stm

Since then, I have made several enquiries from the French embassies to
locate his next of kin or any of his extended relatives, but all to no
avail. My client made a deposit in a bank at Manchester valued presently
at US$18,000,000.00 (Eighteen Million United States Dollars) and the bank
has issued me an official notification to provide his next of kin or
beneficiary by will, otherwise the account will be confiscated within the
next sixty (60) working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful to locate any of my late client's relatives
for over three (3) years now, I seek your consent to permit me present you
as the next of kin/ beneficiary of my late client’s estate so that the
proceeds of this account would be transferred to you.

Already, I have set out modalities for achieving my aim of appointing a
next of kin as well as transfer the money out of this country, for us to
share the money in the ratio of 53% for me and 35% to you, The 2% of the
fund will serve as reimbursement of expenses any of us will make in the
course of this transaction. While we shall collectively donate the
remaining balance of 10% to Tsunami Relief Organizations.

It is my intention to achieve this transfer in a legitimate way, all I
required is your honest co-operation,confidentiality and trust to enable
us see this transaction through. This is a very legal business that I am
very sure of its success and is absolutely risk free.

Kindly signify your willingness to assist by sending me an email for
further procedures relating to this transaction. The email shall include
the below information:

1. Your telephone and fax numbers.
2. Your complete location address.

Once I receive your positive response, I will then furnish you with more
details on how we shall proceed with the claim.


I look forward to receiving your prompt response.

Regards,

Mr. Charles Brown


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