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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: "mckay ken" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrkenmckay2000@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 20:59:26 -0000
Subject: From;Mr.Ken Mckay

From;Mr.Ken Mckay
Bank Of Scotland
PO Box No.5 The Mound Edinburgh
EH1 1YZ
Greetings,
private and urgent
I know that this message will come to you as a surprise since we do not know each other before,I am Mr.Ken Mckay of the above mentioned bank in Scotland.I'm a chartered accountant by training and the personalaccount officer of Late Mr.Heinz Bergmann,there is an account opened inthis bank in 1997 and the owner of the said account was Late Mr.Heinz Bergmann,a German,who died in July 2001 in a Car accident with his only Daughter and wife,without relatives nor next of kin to stand as a claim/beneficiary to this man's fund,and the amount involve is (12.000.000.00BGP)Twelve million Great British Pounds.
No other person/persons know about this account or any thing concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary,I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a local account here, but can only be approved to any foreign account because the original owner of the account was a foreigner.I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms of the ministries and foreign exchange departments. At the conclusion of this transaction, you will be given 40% of the total amount,while 60% will be for me.
For the security of this transaction, kindly contact me via my email; mrkenmckay2001@hotmail.co.uk
I wait your urgent responce.
Yours Sincerely,
Ken Mckay

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