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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: "Mr.Vincent Cheng" <vincent@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mrvinchengll@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sat, 08 Jan 2011 07:47:05 -0200
Subject: Propuesta de negocio!

Good Day

I am Mr.Vincent Cheng Hoi Chuen, GBS, JP Chairman of the Hong Kong and
Shanghai
Banking Corporation Limited.

Our Client, Gen Zaiki Taha Abdel, a businessman and also who was with
the Iraqi
forces, made a fixed deposit,of Twenty Four million Five Hundred
Thousand United
State Dollars only in my branch, a number of notices was sent to him,
before the
war which began in 2003 and also after the war but, no response came from him.
We later found out that the General along with his wife and only daughter had
been killed during the war in a bomb blast that hit their home.

After more inquiry it was also discovered that the late Gen. did not
declare any
next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his
bank deposit.
What bothers me most is according to the laws of my country at the
expiration of
6 years the funds will be revert to the ownership of the Hong Kong
Government if
nobody comes for the funds,Against this scenery, I have all the information
needed to claim these funds and I want you to act as the beneficiary of the
deposit, there
is no risk involved in this matter, as we are going to adopt a
legitimate method
and the attorney will prepare all the necessary documents.

All I require is your honest co-operation and I guarantee that this will be
executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of
the law.
Please accept my apologies, keep my confidence and disregard this email if you
do not appreciate this proposition I have offered you.Reply Via Email:
(mrvinchengll@yahoo.com.hk)

All confirm-able documents to back up the claims will be made available to you
prior to your acceptance.
I will let you know what is required of you.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Best Regards,
Mr.Vincent Cheng

Anti-fraud resources: