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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: "Seng Chew" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tan_dbssingapore@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 02:20:16 +0100
Subject: RESPOND ASAP.

I am Tan S C and an employee of one of the top financial institutions here in Singapore .I want to use
this opportunity to Offer you a business undertaking with a very high monetary gain and value,
mutually beneficial to both parties if you are interested.

Please allow me give you a brief picture of what I have in mind, in November 2001 a
Young Indonesian Man Named (withheld for now) opened a Foreign Currency Fixed Deposit
Account (total value GBP16.9M) at the TOH PAYOH Branch of DBS BANK Singapore,
where I was then the Accounts manager, he was elegantly dressed and seem to be very
wealthy, these are common occurrences' , but what aroused my Interest what the fact
the money when it finally came in was in British sterling and what we usually handled for
such transactions was American dollars, so nevertheless I had an eye on the account.

Now if you have ever operated a high profile bank account or safe deposit account,
you will understand that only the account officer and the teller or cashier who actually handles
your deposit knows who you are and all that, I was the only one aware that this deposit was
made and continuously monitored the account until I found that the account holder was
a Business mogul who launders money for top corrupt government officials .I kept this
information to myself because I did not want anything to happen to me or my family as
the account holder had my contact details and any leak would have clearly been straight
from me or so I thought.But as faith will have it on Friday, 18 September 2009, I was
elated to read that the fugitive had lost is life and the bondage that I have been under
since that account was opened is now over and not only that the funds are at my disposal
right now ,if and only if you can pledge your concrete commitment to assist me convert this
funds to our personal usage immediately, all I need from you is to stand as the original depositor.
Please get this very clear, nobody knows about the existence of this money and if anything
happens to me today the funds will revert to my Bank's or Singapore Government coffers, this is
why we need to act now.

Please understand I am ready to share this money with you equally for your
assistance, I do know that I have not given you a clear view picture, but
when I get your reply I will be more explicit. Your immediate response will be appreciated.

Best Regards

Tan Seng Chew

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