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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: MRS MARIA STEVENS <mariastevensprivate3@videobank.it>
Reply-To: mariastevensprivatexx3@msn.com
Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:09:18 +0100
Subject: I KINDLY NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE!!!!!!!!



My Beloved Friend,


Greetings to You & Your entire Family.


Let me first of all inform you that I got your email address from an email
directory and I was motivated to mail you for a Good assistance. Please I
humbly request for your permission to go ahead so as to ensure this contact
does not offend you in any way. My name is Maria Stevens (Mrs.) from United
Kingdom, married to Dr.Michael Stevens who worked with Texaco/ Oil Company in
United Kingdom before he died On the 23rd day of August 2000, my husband and
three of his colleagues were among the victims of Gulf Air Flight that Crashed
into Persian Gulf near Bahrain Aired Aug5st 23, 2000 -2:50 p.m. ET as reported
on Cable Network News (CNN). Since his death I decided not to re-marry and
presently I am 58 Years old. When my late husband was alive he deposited the
sum of £10Million British Pounds Sterling with a bank in London.

Mostly, I will consult my late husband lawyer Barrister Eduardo Morgan.G, who
happened to be a ( Government Accredited Attorney) well known here in London
United Kingdom to assist you out here in the process of your fund transfer,
till the said fund remitted into your destination account which you must
provide to the bank when they required it from you. For your
information, this
transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is legitimate and
does not originate from drug, money laundry, terrorism or any other illegal
act. But the fund was made from real source by my late husband, before he
deposited in it in the Lloyds Banking Group Plc.


According to the banking laws and regulation in United Kingdom, if the fund
remains unclaimed for six (5) years then, the fund will be transferred
into the
reserve bank as unclaimed bill. The need to move out this money arose when the
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that some of the money held in
dormant accounts would be used to fund youth and community projects
for you can
confirm this in the website below
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4017381.stm)


Presently this total fund is still with the Lloyds Banking Group
London and the
management just wrote me as the beneficiary to come forward to receive this
funds or present any family members or business partners of Friends to them to
receive this funds on my behalf. I cannot do this myself because I am
presently
in a hospital where I have being undergoing treatment for cancer of the lungs,
I have being in this hospital for the past four years and I have since lost my
ability to talk. My doctors have told me that I have only a few months
to live,
so I think the best thing to do is to use this funds to help the less
privileged and Motherless homes in the society. I intended using my late
husband family for this project, but the truth is that they are not
inclined in
helping the poor ones and I know they will spend this money in ungodly ways so
for this reason i decided to look for a trustworthy person or family
that I can
trust and present to the bank as my beneficiary so that the person
will receive
this funds and utilize 60% of this money to fund churches, orphanages and
widows.

I know that I may fall into the hand of a cheat, but i have prayed about this
and I believe this is the way God wants it to be done. As soon as I receive
your reply I shall give you the contact details of the bank. I will also
issue you a letter of authority which will prove that I really sent you to
take possession of this fund. Please assure me that you will act accordingly
as I stated herein and keep this contact confidential
till such a time this funds get to your custody. This is to ensure
that nothing
jeopardizes this project which has always being my heart desire to help the
poor ones. I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance in this
regard by
entrusting this investment fund in your care. Now permit me to ask these few
questions:-

(1) Can I completely trust you in this project?

(2) I am ready to offer you 40% of the total amount (£10,000,000.00).

I hope it is acceptable by you? Please, consider this and get back to
me as soon as possible for more details.

This business will be completed within 10 Banking working days from
the date of
the receipt of your response. What I need from you now is your great co-
operation and honest. Then you will send me all your cardinal information and
your C.V with the copy of your valued identification which the lawyer will use
to write the application letter to the bank for the urgent releasing of the
fund to you as the original claimant / next of kin to the total fund
mentioned.

Thank you so much and Remain Blessed.

Best Regards,

Mrs. Maria Stevens {The widow)

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