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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Attorney Rhys Howard" <info@lawfirm.org> (may be fake)
Reply-To: attorneyrhyshoward@mail2world.com
Date: Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:15:49 +0200
Subject: Treat Urgent And Confidential
Rhys Howard & Co Solicitors
(Moss House 15-16 Brook Mews London. W1k 4DS)
. Legal Practitioner
. Tax Services
. Legal Matters
Hello,
Let me start by introducing myself, I am Mr.Rhys Howard, Attorney to late
Engr.James who was my client before he died some years ago. Before his
death he told me he made a fixed deposit with a bank in London. The
Funds Manager of the Bank called me last year to inform me that my late
client fixed deposit with their bank will elapse before the 25th of
Janaury 2010 and that my late client did not fill in the details of his
next of kin. Ever since then I have been trying to contact you or any
other relations of his who will stand as his next of kin to inherit his
$10million fixed deposit he made with a Bank in London.
The bank wants to know if the next of kin will want to roll the fixed
deposit for another 10years or make the withdrawal immediately, so they
have ask me to come up with my late client next of kin decision before the
25th of January 2010.
I made a lot of research before I was able to get your information, I will
want to know if you would want to roll the deposit over for the next
10years or make the withdrawal immediately.
Please get back to me as soon as possible with your complete information
as place below if you wish to make withdrawal of your fund.
1. Full Names
2. Present Occupation
3. Age
4. Contact Address
5. Any of your proof Identification
6. Phone and Fax number
As soon as I get this information from you I will start preparing all
legal documents that we are going to use for the application.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks,
Rhys Howard(Esq).
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Anti-fraud resources:
