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: "ALEXANDER SMITH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alexandersmithh@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Sun, 14 Nov 2010 21:57:50 -0800
Subject: URGENT ATTENTION

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The Accountant/Auditor,
The Nigerian Gas Company Ltd,
Odin Road, Ekpan, Warri.
Delta State, Nigeria
.
 
Attention,
 
I am Mr.Alexander  smith, the Accountant and Auditor of The Nigerian Gas Company Ltd, Contract Board, I am seeking your partnership on the recovery of an existing fund with a bank here in my country value of Ten Million Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD10,800,000:00) .
This fund came to exist as unclaimed contract payment made into the account of a foreign contractor of this organization for the contract executed in the year 2006, and the news of the death of this contractor who died of cardiac arrest in the United Kingdom that same year. The banking rules here in my country, have it that if a depositor has been confirmed dead and no one comes up for the claim of his/her deposit after a period of four (4) years, the bank has the right to declare such fund unclaimed and be transferred into the government treasury, with a 40% commission, just last week an official notification letter was sent to this organization by the bank on the arrangement to declare this fund unclaimed, , I
I have contacted you as a foreigner to stand as my trustee to enable me present you before the bank as the either the business associate or the distant relative of this contractor, to facilitate this fund ownership change in your favor and immediate transfer into your account, pending my visit there in your country for sharing and utilization between us, I also want to reassure you that every step on this fund transfer is free of any risk and it will be carried out under a legitimate process that will protect you from any breach of the law.
On the completion of this fund into your account, the sharing should be thus: -
50% is for me as the initiator and I will confidently hand over to you all the essential documents on this very supply that the payment is lying unclaimed in the bank, you will also guide me on the investment of this my share into real estate there in your country.
45% should be for you as my partner, considering the essential role that you will play in this transaction.
5% should be for hidden expense reimbursement that should be incurred for the legal actualization of this project in your favor.
In the execution of this project, I will urgently require from you the following details:-
Your name in full.
Your residential Address in full.
Your Mobile/Cell Phone number.
Brief information on your profile, this should include your age, marital status and nature of Job.
Finally, the trust reposed on you on this mutual benefit partnership can not be over emphasized, please forward your response to this my e-mail account only:       alexandersmithh@yahoo.co.jp
 
Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Alexander  smith
 
 

Anti-fraud resources: