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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: Zaman Ahmed <zaman_ahmed94@sify.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Oct 2010 20:16:09 +0100 (BST)
Subject: I AM WAITING FOR YOUR URGENT RESPOND


FROM MR.ZAMAN AHMED
BILL AND EXCHANGE MANAGER,
BANK OF
AFRICAN (BOA)
OUAGADOUGOU, BURKINA FASO.

 
Dear Friend
 

I
sourced your email from a human resource profile database in the chamber, I am
the manager of bill and exchange at the foreign remittance department of Bank of
Africa (BOA) here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
 
In my department we
discovered an abandoned sum of US$14.5million dollars in an account that
belonging to one of our foreign customer.Mr Christian Eich who died along with
his entire family on Monday, 31 July, 2000 in a plane crash in Paris. Please
visit this site that is one of the evidence.
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/ world/europe/859479.stm
Since we
got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come
over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless some body applies
for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking
guidelines and laws but unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of
kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind
for the claim.
It is
therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal
to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the
deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it
and we don't want this money to go into the bank treasury as unclaimed bill.

The
banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed
after ten years, the money will be transferred into the bank treasury as
unclaimed fund. The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is
occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a Burkinabe cannot
stand as next of kin to a foreigner.
I agree
that 30% of this money will be for you as a respect to the provision of a
foreign account, 10% will be set aside for expenses incurred during the business
and 60% would be for me.
Thereafter, I will visit your country for disbursement according
to the percentage indicated .Therefore, to enable the immediate transfer of this
fund to your designated bank account, you must apply first to the bank as a
relation or next of kin of the deceased with a text of application that i will
send to you, so i will like you to send to me your private telephone and fax
number for easy and effective communication and location where in the money will
be remitted.
 
Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or
email the text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice this
transaction is hitch-free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as
all required arrangements have been made for the transfer. You should contact me
immediately as soon as you receive this letter.
(FILL
THIS INFORMATIONS)
1. YOUR FULL NAME :
2. AGE.............
3.
OCCUPATION.......
4. FAX..............
5. TELEPHONE........
7.
COUNTRY..........
 
Trusting to hear from you
immediately.
 
MR.ZAMAN AHMED
Bill and exchange manager,
Bank Of
Africa (BOA)

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