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: "lim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lim_sun20@blumail.org>
Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2011 11:58:36 -0800
Subject: From Mr. Lim Sunwoo

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Lim Sunwoo ESQ. My late client was a private oil consultant/contractor with the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Angola before his death. My client died as a result of a heart-related condition on April 22nd 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of his wife and his three children in the tsunami natural disaster on 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia . It may interest you to know that my client died "intestate".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake

PROPOSITION:

I decided to contact you purely on a personal conviction of trust and confidence to assist in distributing the money left behind by my client. The deceased had a deposit valued presently at (USD$11,500,000:00) and the Bank has issued me a notice to provide a next of kin or beneficiary, otherwise the deposit would be declared unclaimed and reverted to state treasury.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent to present you as a relative/next-of-kin and beneficiary of my client’s deposit, so that the proceeds of this account could be released to you. Then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage. All legal documents to back up your claim as my client's next-of-kin will be provided.

Be informed that I have contacted you as a matter of urgency due to the meeting tagged "Bank for Unclaimed Cash Proposed" which was first brought into lime light by the UK Government and evolving in other parts of Europe, but was laid off by some political demagogue due to the fact that they were using this medium to liaise with some bank manager's to get unclaimed funds from banks.

You can get more information from this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/5171222.stm

The outcome of the meeting was that funds that have been left for years without claims should be confiscated. All I require is your honest co-operation to enable us claim this funds for our own mutual benefits than allow it to be confiscated by the government. This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

If this business proposition offends your moral values, do accept my apology. I must use this opportunity to implore you to exercise the utmost indulgence to keep this matter extraordinary confidential, whatever your decision, while I await your prompt response.

Please contact me at once to indicate your interest. limchambers@blumail.org

Best regards,

Mr. Lim Sunwoo ESQ.

Anti-fraud resources: