joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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 Johnson Heade <jheade01@yandex.ru>
Reply-To: jheade1@aol.com
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 2010 16:32:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: You are officially approved


Hope this email gets to you as it is the third time I am sending it to you.
 
I have tried without success to locate either your contact address or phone
number and as such I resorted to email which is an unconventional way of
relaying  an important message such as this.
 
We are conducting a standard process investigation/Recommendation on behalf of
African Development Bank Group (ADB), The African Investment Banking
Conglomerate.
This investigation is about an account holder (Name Withheld) who bears same
surname with you and the circumstances surrounding his investments at ADB
Invest Account, the Investment arm of African Development Bank Group. The ADB
Private Investment client died intestate and nominated no successor in title
over his  investments made at the bank amounting to over 7,000,000 in United
States currency. The essence of this communication is to request that you
provide us  information/comments on any or all of the four issues as regards
nominating you to inherit the fund left behind by this client.
 
Your answers and response(s) to the questions raised below will determine our
recommendation to the ADB towards legally appointing you to inherit this
investment fund after certified investigation has yielded results showing that
there is no known relation of the deceased client.
 
1-Are you aware of any relative/relation born on the 2nd of February 1951, who
bears your same surname whose last known contact address was Angola ?
 
2-Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such a person
at the ADB Bank Group?
 
3-Can you confirm your willingness to accept this inheritance if you are
legally and legitimately appointed.
 
4-Would you agree to donate part of this inheritance to charity if you are
officially approved to stand as the inheritor?
It is pertinent that you inform us ASAP whether or not you are familiar with
this personality or and your interest towards the issues mentioned.
You must appreciate that we are constrained from providing you with more
detailed information at this point. We will provide you with additional
information upon receipt of your response to this email: jheade1@aol.com

 
Thanks.
 
Johnson Heade
JH&W Consults Inc
233 Regent Street
Mayfair, London , W1B 2EL ,
United Kingdom
Tel: +447011120836
email: jheade1@aol.com

 

Anti-fraud resources: