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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "David" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <helenchrt@writeme.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 22:59:40 +0200
Subject: Invitation on a Partnership

125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AJ
I await your response via my confidential email address:helenchrt@writeme.com

INVITATION FOR PARTNERSHIP
Good Day,

I am David Green with Chase Manhattan Bank, United Kingdom, which is a member of JPMorgan Chase & Co United States of America.
I am contacting you concerning a deceased customer and an investment he placed under our banks management Seven years ago. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this email confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this email. I am contacting you independently of my investigation and no one is informed of this communication. I would like to intimate you with certain facts that I believe would be of interest to you. In the year 2002, the subject matter; came to our bank to engage in business discussions with our private banking division. He informed us that he had a financial portfolio of £15.000.000.00 (Fifteen Million Pounds Only), which he wished to have us turn over (invest) on his behalf.
I was the officer assigned to his case; I made numerous suggestions in line with my duties as the de-facto chief operations officer of the private banking sector then, especially given the volume of funds he wished to put into our bank. We met on numerous occasions prior to any investments being placed. I encouraged him to consider various growth funds with prime ratings. This money was invested and profit margins were made during our first few months of operation, the accrued profit and interest stood at over £5.2 million(Five Million Two Hundred Thousand British Pounds Only) but In mid-2009, he asked that the money be liquidated because he needed to make an urgent investment requiring cash payments in Hong Kong. He directed that I liquidate the funds and deposit it with Winglung Bank. I informed him that my Bank would have to make special arrangements to have this done and in order not to circumvent due process. Cash movement across boarders has become especially strict since the incidents of September 11
I undertook all the processes and made sure I followed his precise instructions to the latter. The Bank is a specialist private Institution that accepts deposits from high net worth individuals and blue chip corporations that handle valuable products or undertake transactions that need immediate access to cash. This Institution is familiar especially to the highly placed and well-connected organizations. The deceased told me he wanted the money there in anticipation of his arrival from Norway later that week. This was the last communication we had, this transpired around 24th of November 2009.
In August last year we got a call from Winglung Bank informing us about the inactivity of that particular portfolio. I made futile efforts to locate Mr Jonathan Charlotte.. I immediately passed the task of locating him to the internal investigations department of the Bank. Four days later, information started to trickle in, apparently our client was dead. A person who suited his description was declared to have dead of a heart attack in cannel, in Southern part of France. We were soon enough to identify the body and cause of death was confirmed. In his bio-data form, he listed no next of kin. In the field of private banking, opening an account with us means no one will know of its existence, accounts are rarely held under a name; depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous.
This investigation has for the past months been unfruitful; we've used our private investigation affiliate companies to get to the root of the problem. It is this investigation that resulted in my being furnished with more details. According to practice, The Winglung Bank will by the end of last financial year broadcast a request for statements of claim to Bank, failing to receive viable claims they will most probably revert the deposit back to Chase Manhattan Bank. This will result in the money entering the Bank accounting system.

My proposal:
What I wish to relate to you will smack of unethical practice but I want you to understand something. It is only an outsider to the banking world who finds the internal politics of the banking world aberrational. The world of private banking especially is fraught with huge rewards for those that occupy certain offices and oversee certain portfolios. You should have begun by now to put together the general direction of what I propose. There is £15.000.000.00 (Fifteen Million Pounds Only), which i alone have the full details and they will release the deposit to no one unless he or she has all documentations and proof. I alone know of the existence of this deposit for as far as my Bank is concerned.
I now seek your permission to present you as a next of kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked to make you the beneficiary to the funds £15.000.000.00 .I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the release of the deposit to you as the closest surviving person to him. Upon receipt of the deposit, I am prepared to share the money with you. That is: I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you. We share the proceeds 70/30.I would have gone ahead to ask that the funds be released to me, but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit. We can fine-tune this based on our interactions, am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you find no interest in this project that you should discard this email. I ask that you do not be vindictive and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to you, delete this message and forget I ever contacted you.
Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal. I am not a criminal and I do not find what I'm doing against good conscience, this may be hard for you to understand, but the dynamics of my industry dictates that I make this move. Such opportunities only come ones' way once in a lifetime. I cannot let this chance pass me by, for once I find myself in total control of my destiny. This chance won't pass me by. I ask that you do not destroy my chance, if you will not work with me let me know and let me move on with my life but do not destroy me. I am a family man and this is an opportunity to provide them with new opportunities. There is a reward for this project and it is a task well worth undertaking.
I have evaluated the risks and the only risk I have here is from you refusing to work with me and alerting my bank. If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards a conclusion. I wish to inform you that should you contact me via official channels; I will deny knowing you and about this project. I repeat, I do not want you contacting me through my official phone lines nor do I want you contacting me through my official email account. Contact me only through the numbers I have provided to you above and also through this email address in this email. I do not want any direct link between you and myself. My official lines are not secured lines as they are periodically monitored to assess our level of customer care in line with our Total Quality Management policy. Please observe this instruction religiously. Please, again, note that I am a family man; I have a wife and children. I send you this email not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I know within me that nothing
Mr. David Green

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