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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: "David LeFevre" <miguel@lawyer.com>
Reply-To: studiolegale@lawyer.com
Date: Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:39:31 -0500
Subject: Goodday


Dear Friend,

My name is Barr. Giorgio Salvatore of Salvatore Studio Legale in Rome. I
actually got your contact email address through the worldwide email
database. My purpose of contacting you is for you to help secure the funds
left behind by my late client(Late Mr. Richard Lyman), to avoid it being
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank where this fund valued
€9,500,000.00 (Nine Million Five Hundred Thousand Euros) deposited by my
client before his death.

The Bank has issued me a notice to contact the next of kin or the account
will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury,
So far all my efforts to get a hold of someone related to my client has
proved abortive. Hence, I have contacted you. I am actually asking for
your consent to present you to the Bank as the Next of Kin/beneficiary to
my late client's fund, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to
your account.

All the legal documentations to back up your claim as my client's Next of
Kin shall be provided. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable
us achieve this transaction.

I wish to point out that I want 20% of this money to be shared among the
Charity Organizations, while the remaining 80% is shared equally between
us. This transaction is entirely risk free. I will use my position as the
client?s attorney to guarantee the successful execution of this
transaction. If you are interested, please contact me via E-mail:
studiolegale@lawyer.com or abogadossegura1@aol.com, I shall
provide you with more details and relevant documents that will help you
understand this transaction vividly.

The intended transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect you and me from any breach of law. However, if this
business proposal offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology.

If on the contrary you wish to achieve this goal with me, kindly get back
to me with your interest for further explanations.

Kindest Regards

Barrister Giorgio Salvatore.

Anti-fraud resources: