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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: David Martins <david.martinss32@yahoo.com.hk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: david_martins11@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2010 19:42:21 +0800
Subject: REPLY ASAP

From: David Martins.
46-50 Sunny Gardens Rd.
Hendon, London. NW4 1RX UK.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am Barrister David Martins Esq {LLB}. I am from Ireland but lives and work here in the UK. This email may come to you as a surprise because we do not know each other.But I am assuring you that it is a good one and it is from my heart.I have made some verification about your person hence,I decided to contact you for both of us to work together for a common goal irrespective of your profession.One of my client who died with all members of his family in a Ghastly motor accident here in April 2003.Although ,it will be very much easier for me to present you as his relation/ next of kin.Based on this,I have decided to contact you to enable you to assist me in claiming the sum of $14.5M { Fourteen Million United States Dollars.}

My late client has deposited this amount in a security/finance company
here before his untimely death in April 2003. Because I was his personal Attorney,I have all the vital documents to this fund deposited in the Finance house .Since his demise,I have tried through many sources if I can get hold of any member of my late client
family but to no avail.My late client did not leave any next of kin when making this deposit.He was an Engineer / Contractor with Shell Development Company UK.Therefore,I am asking you to join hand with me to safeguard this money so that we can use it for our own investment in your country as no one will ever come for it any more. Also,it is
important because at the end of the first Financial quarter,
the finance house will seize such unclaimed deposits with them as stipulated in the Deposit agreement they had with their depositors.

I have all the documents to present which will back you up as my late client associate and next of kin. I am going to follow all Legal procedures in making you the beneficiary to this fund deposit.Please this is going to be based on absolute trust and high confidentiality must be maintained.Therefore,I would like you to send your tel,Fax, Company Name if any and your contact address shed more light on this subject matter and to tell you what procedures to take to actualize this fruitful transaction.I await your urgent response.

Yours Faithfully,

Barrister David Martins Esq. {LLB}.







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