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: "Cheng Vincent" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vincentcheng210@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:18:26 -0000
Subject: GOOD DAY

Good Day

I am Mr. Vincent Cheng Hoi Chuen, GBS, JP Chairman of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Limited.

Our client BRIGADIER AMER ALI NAYEF, a businessman and also who was with the Iraqi forces,
made a fixed deposit, of Twenty Two million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars only in
my branch, a number of notices was sent to him, before the war which began in 2003 and also after
the war but, no response came from him. We later found out that Brigadier Amer Ali Nayef was shot
dead along with his son, Khalid Amer also in the force as they left the family home for work in the
south of the city.

After more inquiry it was also discovered that the late Brigadier, did not declare any next of kin in his
official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. What bothers me most is according to the
laws of my country at the expiration of 7 years the funds will be reverted to the ownership of the Hong
Kong Government if nobody comes for the funds, Against this scenery, I have all the information needed
to claim these funds and I want you to act as the beneficiary of the deposit, there is no risk involved in
this matter, as we are going to adopt a legitimate method and the attorney will prepare all the necessary
documents.

All I require is your honest co-operation and I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please accept my apologies, keep my
confidence and disregard this email if you do not appreciate this proposition I have offered you.

All confirmable documents to back up the claims will be made available to you prior to your acceptance
and as soon as I receive your return mail Via my email address: vincentcheng210@yahoo.com.hk and I
will let you know what is required of you.

Your earliest response to this letter will be appreciated.

Best Regards,
Mr. Vincent Cheng

Anti-fraud resources: