joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Mr. Mikel Black." <mb@focus.org> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mikelblack@yahoo.cn
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2010 14:52:34 -0600 (CST)
Subject: URGENT MAIL FROM MR MIKEL BLACK

Attn: Sir,



I am Mr. Mikel Black, the Chief Auditor of Focus Financial Management Ltd., a
finance and investment management company in the United Kingdom. In the
course of
performing my duties in the company as an auditor, I discovered floating
money in a
domiciliary account which was opened in 1994 belonging to a foreigner MR.
K.P.
Michelle who died in 1999. All effort to track any member of his nuclear and
extended family or next of kin has since failed. I contacted you to stand
as his
next of kin so that I can present you to my company as his next of kin. He
died
without leaving an Heir or a Will.



My intention is to transfer the sum of Fifteen Million Five Hundred
Thousand United
States dollars (US$15.500.000.00) in the aforementioned account to a safe
account
overseas for our private use. I am proposing that you partner with me
since you bear
the same last name with the late account holder and provide a bank account
or open a
new one that will serve the purpose of receiving this fund. For your
assistance and
participation in this venture, I am ready to part with a thirty percent
(30%) of the
entire funds i.e. Four Million Six Hundred and Fifty Thousand United
States dollars
(US$4,650,000.00) as your share. On scrutinizing the deceased records and
files with
our finance company, I discovered that:



(1) No one has operated this account since 1999. (2) He died without any
next of
kin; hence the money has been floating. (3) No other person knows about this
account.

If I do not remit this money urgently, it will be declared as unclaimed
fund and
converted to the company's funds which will benefit only the directors of
my firm.
This money can be approved and paid to you legally once I present you as
the next of
kin and secure all the documentary approvals and certifications in your
name and
also guide you stage by stage on how to make your claims applications to
ensure its
approval and payment.



Please reply by faxing back to me a copy of my letter and stating your direct
telephone and fax number on it (please buy a fax machine if you do not
have one
because we cannot do the business without a fax number since most of our
correspondences will be by fax) so that I can send you detailed
information on the
modalities of my proposition. The entire process leading to the crediting
of your
bank with the inherited funds will be completed within 14 working days. I
implore
you to keep this proposition confidential as it is failure proof, 100%
risk free and
legal. I look forward to your prompt response as I can be reached on my
direct email
address below.



Best Regards



Mr. Mikel Black.

Focus Financial Management Limited

Email : mikelblack@yahoo.cn

Anti-fraud resources: