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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.Smith" <drs.smith01@gmail.com>
Reply-To: smithdes@hotmail.fr
Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2011 11:17:41 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Urgent Please




Dear Friend,Please do accept my sincere apologies if my mail does not meet your personal Ethics. I introduce myself as Mr.Desmond Smith,the Auditor General of our bank, during the course of our auditing. So, I want to transfer to overseas the sum of Seven million three hundred United States of American dollars only ($7,300,000.00USD) I discovered the floating fund in an account opened in the bank for years
As it may interest you to know the fund belong to one of our costumers who made a numbered time Fixed Deposit for twelve calendar months valued at Seven million three hundred United States of American dollars only ($7,300,000.00USD).
Upon maturity I sent a routine notification in accordance with the Bank policy to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month we sent a reminder and finally, we discovered from his contract employers that the owner of the account died without a [heir] hence the money is floating and if I do not remit this money out urgently it may be forfeited for nothing as we have found out that he died without making a will and he did not declare any NEXT OF KIN or relations in all his official documents including his Bank Deposit paperwork in our Bank and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless.
No one will ever come forward to claim this money and according to our law, at the expiration of 7 years the money will revert to the ownership of the State (Government) if nobody applies to claim the fund.
This prompted me to contact you by fronting you as the next of kin to our late customer thereby making you the legal beneficiary of the sum of $7,300,000.00 USD that is presently in our Bank or if you are not capable to handle the business then, you can quietly look for a reliable and honest person who may be capable and fit to provide either an existing bank account or to set up a new Bank account immediately to receive this money, even an empty bank account can serve to receive this money, as long as you or the person will remain honest to me till the end of this important business trusting in you and believing in God that you will never let me down either now or in future.
And I would also like us to meet face to face if possible to build confidence and trust and to sign a binding agreement that will bind us together before transferring the money to any bank account of your choice where the fund will be safe before my arrival to your country for withdrawal, sharing and investments.Please, I need your full co-operation to make this work fine because the management is almost ready to approve this fund to any foreigner who has correct information of this account, which I will give to you when needed, upon your positive response and once I am convinced that you are capable and will meet up with my instructions.
So, In the event that you are genuinely interested in the transaction, then call me on phone for more details because this transaction entails constant communication.
I want to assure you that this transaction is 100% legal and totally free
from all risks as all modalities have been perfected to ensure the hitch free
success of the transaction.So,if you are interested, send me the requested information and call me on phone as soon as possible so that we can proceed.
I await your response urgently.
Regards,
Mr.Desmond Smith
+22676682914



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