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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: "FRANK MARTIN" <frank_martin1001@yahoo.cn>
Reply-To: <frankmartin2000@yahoo.cn>
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:06:25 -0400
Subject: FROM: FRANK MARTIN R

FROM FRANK MARTIN
Email:

Good Day,
I am Mr. Frank Martin, I am contacting you concerning
a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks management
Seven years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of
this mail confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by
as a result of this mail.I am contacting you independently of our investigation
and no one is informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you with
certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In the year 2002, the
subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our
private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of
Fifteen Million Dollars, which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his
behalf.
I was the officer assigned to his case; I made numerous suggestions in line with
my duties as the de-facto chief operations officer of the private banking sector
then, especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We
met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged
him to consider various growth funds with prime ratings. In mid 2004, he asked
that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment
requiring cash payments in Helsinki- Finland. He directed that I liquidate the
funds and deposit it with a security firm. I informed him that my Bank would
have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to
circumvent due process. Cash movement across boarders has become especially
strict since the incidents of 9/11. I contacted my affiliate and made the funds
available to the security firm.

I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions
to the letter and had the funds deposited with the security firm. The Security
Firm is a specialist private firm that accepts deposits from high net worth
individuals and blue chip corporations that handle valuable products or
undertake transactions that need immediate access to cash. This small and
highly private organization is familiar especially to the highly placed and
well-connected organizations. In line with instructions, the money was
deposited with the security firm. The deceased told me he wanted the money
there in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that week. This was the
last communication we had, this transpired around 25th of November 2004.In August
last year we got a call from the security firm informing us about the
inactivity of that particular portfolio. I made futile efforts to locate the
deceased. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal
investigations department of the Bank. Four days later, information
started to trickle in, apparently our client was dead. A person who suited his
description was declared dead of a heart attack in cannel, in Southern part of
France. We were soon enough to identify the body and cause of death was
confirmed.In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of private banking,
opening an account with us means no one will know of its existence, accounts are
rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts
anonymous.

This investigation has for the past months been unfruitful; we’ve
used our private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root of the
problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my being furnished with your
details as a possible relative of the deceased. According to practice, The
Security Firm will by the end of this financial year broadcast a request for
statements of claim to Bank, failing to receive viable claims they
will most probably revert the deposit back to Bank. This will
result in the money entering the Bank accounting system and the
portfolio will be out of my hands and out of the private banking division. This
will not happen if I have my way. What I wish to relate to you will smack of
unethical practice but I want you to understand something. It is only an
outsider to the banking world who finds the internal politics of the banking
world aberrational. The world of private banking especially is fraught with
huge rewards for those that occupy certain offices and oversee certain
portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the general direction
of what I propose. There is Fifteen Million Dollars deposited in a security firm, I
alone have the deposit details and they will release the deposit to no one
unless I instruct them to do so. I alone know of the existence of this deposit
for as far as my Bank is concerned.

My proposal: I now seek your permission to present you as a next of kin to the
deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked to make you the
beneficiary to the funds US$15,000 000 00 (Fifteen Million Dollars); I am prepared
to place you in a position to instruct The security Firm to release the deposit
to you as the closest surviving relation. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am
prepared to share the money with you. That is: I will simply nominate you as
the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds
60/40.I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be released to me, but that
would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the
deposit. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions am aware of the
consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you find no interest in this
project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive
and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and
forget I ever contacted you.

Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. I am not a
criminal and what I do, I do not find against good conscience, this may be hard
for you to understand, but the dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this
move. Such opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot let
this chance pass me by, for once I find myself in total control of my destiny.
These chances won’t pass me by. I ask that you do not destroy my chance, if
you will not work with me let me know and let me move on with my life but do
not destroy me. I am a family man and this is an opportunity to provide them
with new opportunities. There is a reward for this project and it is a task
well worth undertaking.

I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to
work with me and alerting my bank. If you give me positive signals, I will
initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform you that should
you contact me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this
project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone
lines nor do I want you contacting me through my official email account.
Contact me only through the numbers I will provide for you and also through
this email address. I do not want any direct link between you and myself. My
official lines are not secured lines as they are periodically monitored to
assess our level of customer care in line with our Total Quality Management
policy. Please observe this instruction religiously.Please, again, note that I
am a family man, I have a wife and children. I send you this mail not without a
measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I know within me that nothing
ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches never come easy or on a
platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking
clients. Do not betray my confidence.


I await your response.

Mr.Frank Martin

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