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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: olivia peters <oliviapeters02@att.net>
Reply-To: olivier00@live.com
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:59:45 -0800 (PST)
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU?



Attn:

First let me thank you for your response to my letter and considering to partner with my colleague and I in realising this once in a lifetime venture. We (I am in this transaction with one other person) are very happy to finally find someone with a matching last name with Mr David.
Now, I do assure you that this transaction has been carefully put together and is fool-proof.All we need do is to put you up as claimant to the Estate of the Deceased investor (Mr David )who passed on here in the United Kingdom a while ago without leaving a Will or any instructions whatsoever of how his vast estate should be disposed.

We know this because as auditors of the bank where the deceased operated his accounts-NatWest Bank, we have detailed inside knowledge of his transaction .We are in possession of all documents needed to put you forward as the only surviving relative of the deceased investor and have installed blocking software to the account details so that it can only be accessed by my colleague and I.

The next stage of this transaction is for us to retain the services of an attorney here in United Kingdom to undertake the process of transferring the estate of the deceased (Mr David) to an account to be provided by you. All documents that the attorney would need to carry out this task would be given to you by us . Before the funds hit your account however , we shall be coming to your Country (or a neutral location) to see you and agree how our share of the funds would be protected and disbursed.

To ensure the confidentiality this transaction deserves, You will need to provide me with a private telephone number. I have acquired a secure telephone number (+44 7045704685) and you can reach me on that number. Please do give me a call as soon as you can for more information.

It is left to say that we have our end covered and there is absolutely no risk to you or us in this transaction. We are looking to close this transaction in less than a month's time. I shall give you more details as soon as we start communicating on phone.

Thanking you for the co-operation,
Richards Dave.

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