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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: "Mr. Larry Ken" <bobsoglo@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mr_larryken@rediffmail.com
Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2011 04:21:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Good day my good friend


Dear Sir / Madam,

How are you today? I hope all is well and this letter will meet you in good shape. I am Mr. Larry Ken, an accountant in one the leading banks in Benin Republic,which I will hold to mention the name or give you more information about myself for security reasons until I get your positive response to partner with me in this business deal.
I contacted you because I came across a payment file valued at USD20.750 million dollars which was marked X and with his gold dust  the transfer released disk painted RED, I took time to study it and found out that the fund  belong to an estate maginet  who died in concord air France on July 25th 2000,Mr. Andreas  Schranner.
Gold depository Number : B/ 7..F .31460
Bank Clearing No.248
Swift No.BABZH80V     
And since his death till now  nobody have come for  claim this fund because the bank cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and Subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I don't want this money to go into the Bank treasury as unclaimed Bill and it will not be augur well for the fund to be Unclaimed.

The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after 11 years, the money will be transferred into the Bank treasure as unclaimed fund.  Therefore to enable the immediate transfer of this fund and the gold dust to you as arranged, you must apply first to the bank as relations or next of kin of the deceased. Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by fax or email the text of the application which you will fill and send to the office of the Director Foreign Remittance Department, I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain any atom of fear as all required arrangements and information's are on my desk. The below document will be provided as soon as you apply so that the dust will also be realise to you as well.
1.Promissory Note
2.Standby letter of credit
3.Certificate of Gold Deposit
4.Bank Guarantee Letter.
You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter, you will stand as the next of Kin  since nobody from my country here can stand as the next of kin do that due to the fact that only a foreigner can make the claim.
If you agree, let me know by return email and note that this transaction is strictly secret. Get back to me by mail.
Regards,
Mr. Larry Ken



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