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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: "Wilson Thomas" (may be fake)
Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2011 02:23:57 +0100
Subject: Your Last Name, Our Payment

NOTICE: This electronic message transmission contains information that
is confidential or privileged. The information is intended to be for
the use of the individual or entity named below. If you are not the
intended recipient, be aware that any disclosure, copying,
distribution or use of the contents of this information is prohibited.
 
Attention
 
I am Mr. Wilson Thomas, a finance and investment Consultant here in UK.
The purpose of this letter is to seek for your utmost cooperation in
procuring my clients Bonded Fund that was lodged with a Building
Society in United Kingdom.
 
My client - a National of your country, died without writing any WILL
and till date nobody has been able to locate any of his relatives
despite several attempts by the building society to contact the next heir.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his
last name over the Internet, to locate any member of his family hence I
contacted you.
 
Because of the similarity in surname(last name), I have contacted you to assist
in repatriating the money and property left behind by my client, valued at Twenty
Six Million United State Dollars ($26 million us dollars)  before they get confiscated
or declared unserviceable, as the Building society has issued a final notice to
provide the Next of Kin within the next few months.
 
Based on this, I therefore seek your consent to PRESENT you as the
NEXT OF KIN of the deceased so that the proceed of this account can be
paid to you and then we can share the money in an agreed ratio depending on
your contributions to the project.
 
All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal
through.I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
 
Please, reply through my private email: wilsont002i@att.net
to enable us discuss further.
Best Regards
Wilson Thomas

Anti-fraud resources: