joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: Carl Woods <carll.woodss@att.net>
Reply-To: carll_woodss@ymail.com
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 07:41:45 -0800 (PST)
Subject: FW:Official Information.

From The Desk Of Carl Woods
Library/Information Desk
Nat West Bank London.

Good
day, I apologize for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail
Instead of a Certified/Post-mail. This is due to the urgency and
importance of the information. I humbly crave your indulgence to read
this e-mail with all seriousness of purpose devoid
of any doubt in your mind because this project is based on trust,
confidentiality and sincerity of purpose in order to have an acceptable
meeting of the minds.although, we have never met before, but i have
every reason to believe that you are a highly respected personality,
considering the fact that i got your e- mail address through internet my
online network, while searching for a reliable and reputable person
that can handle this transaction.

I
am a senior information desk officer in Nat West Bank London. I am
writing following an opportunity in my office that will be of immense
benefit to both of us. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum
of 10.5 (Ten million five hundred Thousand Dollars Only) in an account
that belong to one of our foreign customers late Mr.Morris Thompson an
American who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31/2000,including his wife and only
daughter.

Since
we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of
kin or relatives to come over and claim his money, because we cannot
release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to
the decease as indicated in our banking guidelines.

Unfortunately
i discovered that his supposed next of kin being his only daughter died
along with him in the plane crash leaving nobody with the knowledge of
the funds behind for claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that i
and two other officials in this department now decided to make business
with you and release the
money to you as the next of kin or beneficiary of the funds for safety
keeping and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and we
don't want this money to go back into government treasury as unclaimed
bill.

The banking law and guidelines here stipulates that any unclaimed money after ten years will be transferred into banking treasury account as unclaimed funds.

We
agreed that 35% of this money would be for you as foreign partner,
while the balance will be for my colleagues and I. I will visit your
country for disbursement according to the percentage indicated above,
once this money gets into your account. Please be honest with me.

To
commence this transaction, we require you to immediately indicate your interest by a return e-mail and enclose the

Following information:

1. Full name
2: Your private telephone and Fax numbers.
3. Occupations and Nationality.


Please
note that all the necessary arrangement for the smooth release of these
funds to you has been finalized.We will discuss much in details when i
do receive your response.

Best regards
Carl Woods

Anti-fraud resources: