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: Wallace James. <barrjameswp@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 04 May 2011 10:24:05 -0500
Subject: Hello,

Dear Friend.

Firstly, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day.

Let me start by first introducing myself properly to you. It may surprise you receiving this letter from me, since there was no previous correspondence between us. I found your name on the internet name search profile (Infobel). My name is Peter James Wallace Esq. a personal Attorney to one late businessman here in Spain. He died along with his only daughter in the year 2004.
My purpose of contacting you is for you to help me secure the funds left behind by my late client, to avoid it being confiscated or declare unserviceable by the Bank where this fund valued $8,500,000.00 (Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand US dollars) I really need your help to transfer this fund to your bank account because you have the same surname with my late client. This makes this deal very easy and 100% safe.

The Bank has being issuing notice to contact the next of kin or the account will be declared unserviceable and the fund diverted to the Bank treasury, So far all my efforts to get a hold of someone related to this man documentally have proved abortive. Hence, I have contacted you. I am actually asking for your consent to present you to the Bank as the next of Kin/beneficiary of my late client's fund, since you have the required names for this transaction, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to your bank account.

All the legal documentations to back up your claim as my client's next of Kin, I shall provided them. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us achieve this transaction. I wish to point out that I suggest 20% of this money to be donated to Charity Organizations, while the remaining 80% is shared equally between us. This proposition is entirely risk free. I will use my position as the client’s attorney to guarantee the successful execution of this transaction. If you are interested, please contact me via Tel: 0034 693 959 422, Fax: 0034 698 849 996 or email: wallace.james@mail.com Upon your response, I shall then provide you with my full identifications and more details and relevant documents that will help you understand this transaction well.

The intended transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any infraction of the law. There is no problem about this.
However if this business proposition offends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology. But if on the contrary you wish to achieve this goal with me, kindly get back to me with your interest for further explanation. Include your names, contact telephone number and a photo copy of your identity in your respond.
Kindest Regards,

Mr. Peter James Wallace.


Anti-fraud resources: