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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: "BARR. WILLIAM J. COKER" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barr.williamscoker@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 16:54:58 -0700
Subject: GOOD DAY

From Mr. Williams J. Coker Esq,
No. 7 Tola Williams St.,
Ikeja Lagos, Nigeria.
 
My Dear Friend,
 
I know that this mail will come to you as a big surprise, but I believe that it is just only one day that people meet with each other and become friends or business partners. I will start by introducing myself to you, my name is Williams J. Coker; I am a constitutional lawyer here in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I was privileged to serve as an Attorney and a personal confidant to a citizen of your Country, who worked here in Nigeria few years ago as a consultant contractor with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) before his sudden death.
On the 21st of April 2007, my client and his wife were involved in a ghastly Auto Crash along Shagamu expressway to Lagos, and unfortunately all occupants of their vehicle lost their lives. Since that unfortunate incident occurred few years ago, I have made several enquiries to your embassy in efforts to locating any family member of my late client or his extended relatives who can stand as his Next of Kin (Heir) to place claims on a huge amount of money that was deposited by my late client with a financial institution here in Nigeria, but unfortunately all my efforts have continued to prove abortive. After several unsuccessful attempts to locate any member of his family or extended relative, I decided to track his surname through the internet and that was how I came across your own name and contact email address.
However, I am contacting you to assist me in recovering the huge amount of money left behind by my late client before they get confiscated here in Nigeria. Particularly, the Bank in Nigeria where the deceased had a Fix-Deposit Account valued US$10,000,000.00 (Ten Million United States Dollars), has recently issued me a notice to provide Next of Kin (Heir) to the deceased who can come forward to claim the deposited funds or have the account confiscated. Since I have been unsuccessful in my several efforts to locating any relatives of my late Client for over two years now, I am seeking your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to the deceased since you have the same surname with the deceased, so that the proceeds of his account valued US$10Million can be paid to you, and then you and I can share the fund in the following ratio, 50% to me and 40% to you. It is also important to suggest that the remaining 10% of the total amount would be mapped out to settle! all expenses that we may undertak
Finally, I also want to inform you that this transaction is 100% risk-free. I have in my possession some vital documents that can be used to authenticate our claims. Everything would be achievable within an interval of Ten (10) working days from now if we can get started instantly, so Please get back to me at your prompt receipt of this mail by forwarding to me your full names, your age, occupation, your contact address and your contact telephone numbers to enable us discuss further about this transaction. Your response is urgently awaited!
 
Thanks for your anticipated good understanding and co-operation,
 
Best regards, 
 
Barrister Williams J. Coker Esq. (SAN)
LLB, LLM, BL.SAN.
Email:barr.williamscoker@gmail.com
 
 
 

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