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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Thaddeus Bemba" <thadbemb@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 09:38:30 -0500
Subject: Do not ignore:Compliments.

Compliments of the season to you,

This is my second message to you. My name is Thaddeus Bemba the only son of
late.Mr.Julius Bemba.I am an undergraduate of the University of South Africa,
a 2nd year student of the department of agricultural science. My father was a
protocol officer to the president of the democratic republic of Congo
unfortunately he died last year January in a plane crash close to Beirut,
Lebanon onboard Ethiopia Airline while on his usual business trip. His death
has caused great pandemonium in my family as my uncles and my step-mother are
all interested in my father’s estate and are now scrambling for his wealth. I
got hold of one of my fathers safes and in it I found a document indicating
that my father has an account with a UK Bank amounting to
$11,300,000.00(Eleven million Three hundred thousand American dollars)which I
am stated as the next of kin and beneficiary to the fund.

To verify these funds in escrow account, please call the telephone banking
Number of the Bank and follow the voice prompt to confirm the above funds in
my late father’s account.
Call: +44 703 9402-129
Pin: 163
Account Number: 0 1 1 5 7 8 6 6

However, my father left an instruction contained in his will of testament that
the fund should only be remitted to me for investment purpose that upon my
presentation of an investment plan or a trusted investor/manager who can
assist me in investing the fund then the money can be released to me. I am
therefore soliciting for your assistance to present you to the bank as a
foreign investor /manager that would assist me in investing the fund in any
part of the world. I intend to invest this money in your country as soon as
the fund is remitted to you. I do not want any member of my family to be aware
of this hence I have decided to seek your assistance and trust in this issue.
I also do not want to take the chances of doing this with any person from my
country as there could be a trace from my family members. Feel free to
negotiate with me what percentage of the money you want as compensation for
your service that you will render to me. Please get back to me immediately. I
am in dire need of your help right now as i do not have funds to begin this
new academic year so i need this transaction to be completed within the next
14 days at most to enable me resume my studies. When I hear from you, then I
will swear an affidavit and do a change of ownership of the funds from my name
to your name. This change of beneficiary, I will send to the bank to notify
them that I have found a trust worthy partner to stand in as the beneficiary
of the funds on my behalf. I will furnish you with the whole details upon
receipt of your response.

Thanks in anticipation of your cooperation.
Yours faithfully,
Thaddeus Bemba.

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