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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: "Charles Howard Katlego" <charles.howard1@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: charleshkatlego1@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 13:25:47 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Request For Assistance

Dear Sir/Madam,

First I must apologize for intruding into your private email address:
Knowing the fact that we do not know or have meet each other. It is due to
the urgency required that I am writing you and I want you to read through
my letter with great zeal to participate in this business and I promise
you that your involvement will not be regretted.

My name is Mr. Charles Howard Katlego. I was the House Manager and
Personal Assistant to late Mr. Wiiliam Myers, who died in the Amman,
Jordan, Suicide Bombings Terrorist Attack that hit 3 American hotels,
Radisson, Grand Hyatt, and Days Inn, in Amman, Jordan, killing 57 in Nov.
9, 2005.

Before his death, my late employer deposited the sum of USD22M.
(Twenty-Two Million,United States Dollars) with a Finance Firm. After the
death of my employer, the Finance Firm had been contacting me and his
Attorney to provide his next of kin who should inherit this fortune. Since
then I had made several inquiries on my own to locate any of my master’s
extended relative but this exercise has proved unsuccessful. After several
unsuccessful attempts to trace his relatives, I decided to do a random
search on the internet to try trace any one remotely related to him by
blood or name..

Despairing at the point of exhaustiveness, fortunately, I came across you,
to my utmost amazement; you are nationals of the same country, convinced
that you may be linked with my late employer or that you might provide
clue to my search, I therefore, decided to contact you with these facts
before me because of the situation now. By virtue of my closeness to the
deceased, I am very much aware of my employer’s financial standing and the
bank account he operates. It is possible that you do not have any family
link with my late employer, but, for the fact that you are from the same
country, we can do this, with your cooperation.

I was mandated by the Finance Firm's Board to provide his next of kin for
the payment of this money, or forfeit the money to the bank as an
abandoned property. The banks had been using and invoking the abandoned
property decree of 1996 to confiscate the funds after the expiration of
the period given to me and his Attorney.

I am pleading with you to assist in this case so that the funds in Finance
Firm does not ends up being forfeited, because they the Bank will take
these funds saying that the funds are unclaimed fund and they will used
these funds to serve their personal interests and I don't want this to
happen.

I have reasoned very carefully and I feel it will be legally proper to
present you as the next of kin of my deceased employer, so that you can be
paid the funds left in his account with the Finance Firm, hence I
contacted you. I seek your consent to present you as the Next of Kin to
the deceased since you are at an advantage as a nationals of the same
country with my late employer, so that the proceeds of this account valued
at USD22M., can be paid to you. I shall assemble all the necessary legal
documents that will be used to back up our claim.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us because, I shall
require your assistance to invest my share in your country in any
lucrative sphere of business you may deem fit and profitable within your
country.

All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us seeing this deal
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you and me from any breach of law.

I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise, Please accept the
content in good faith. I do not intend to cause any grief to you. The
reason for sending this mail is very fundamental to the doctrine of human
privileges and right. I wait your response so I can have the details of
how we are going to have the funds transfer sent to you.

Best Regards,

Mr. Charles Howard Katlego.

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