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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: "ABBEY BANK, PLC, LONDON UK." <collinspaul5_asociates@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: collinspaul01@aol.co.uk
Date: Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:00:07 +0300
Subject: Very Urgent.

Dear sir,

I am Mr Collins Paul,The Branch Auditor of ABBEY BANK, Plc, London UK. I have
urgent and very confidential business proposition for you. On June 1999, a
German property magnate and also an oil consultant/contractor, Mr.Andreas
Schranner made a numbered time (Fixed) deposited for twelve calendar months,
valued at $25,500,000.00 (Twenty-five Million five hundred thousand
Dollars) in
my branch.

Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got
no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his
contract employers, that Mr.Andreas Schranner,DIED ON PLANE CRASH
ACCIDENT WITH
ALL THE MEMBERS OF HIS FAMILY, SON IN LAW AND GRAND CHILDREN WHO SUPPOSE TO BE
THE NEXT OF KIN TO HIS ESTATE INCLUDING CASH AMOUNT. YOU ARE ADVISE TO TAKE A
LOOK ON HOMEPAGE BELOW AS REPORTED BY BBC.:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

I found out that he did not leave a WILL and all attempts to trace his next of
kin were fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that
Mr.Andreas Schranner, did not declare any next of kin in all his official
documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork.

This sum of $25,500,000.00 (Twenty-five Million five hundred thousand Dollars)
is still sitting in the bank as unclaimed funds and the interest is
being rolled
over with the principal sum at the end of each year. No one will come
forward to
claim it. According to the laws of the country, at the expiration of 10 (TEN)
years, The bank management will confiscate this account, And the
amount of money
as unclaimed bill and will be shared among the shareholder as dividend
if nobody
applies to claim the funds.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to
stand in as
the next of kin to Mr.Andreas Schranner so that the fruits of this old man's
labor will not go on vain since we can of course make some donation
funds out of
the principal sum to the charity as a mark of remembrance to the deceased, I
will like you to provide me immediately with your full names and
address so that
an Attorney (lawyer) will prepare the necessary documents and
affidavits, which
will put you in place as the next of kin. We shall employ the services of an
attorney for drafting and notarization of a "WILL" and obtain the necessary
documents and letter of probate/administration in your favor for the
transfer. A
bank account in any part of the world, which you will provide, will then
facilitate the transfer of this money to you as the beneficiary/next of kin.

The money will be paid into your account for us to share. There is no risk at
all as all the paperwork for this transaction will be done by the Attorney and
my position as the Branch Auditor guarantees the successful execution of this
transaction. If you are interested, please reply immediately. Upon your
response, I shall then provide you with more details and relevant
documents that
will help you understand and also I shall let you know how the
percentage I will
offer you for your assistance.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this transaction
would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require your
assistance
to invest my share in your country.

I am waiting for your urgent reply.

Yours truly,
Mr Collins Paul.




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