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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: "Musa Ahmed" <jerrytaylor@lawfrms.com>
Reply-To: musaahmed22@rediffmail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 17:52:55 +0400
Subject: ATTN:




Hello,

My name is Barrister Musa Ahmed. I am a legal practitioner with
Barrister Musa Ahmed & co. Law firm in Kuala lumpur,Malaysia .

I saw your contact and profile i decided that you could cooperate with
me in this proposition. I have a client who was deceased in march 12 2004, in
Kuala lumpur hospital ,Malaysia.

I am contacting you because you have the same last name as my deceased
client and i felt that you could help me in the distribution of fund
that were left in my deceased client''s bank account. This funding is
closed to be declared un-serviceable by the bank as there were no
indicated next of kin or next of beneficiary of the funding in the
bank account.

The total amount of cash in the bank account of my deceased client is
us$9.7 million (Nine million, seven hundred thousand us$). The bank
had issued to me a notification to contact the next of kin of my
deceased client for either to re activate the account or to make claim
of beneficiary, of the funding in the bank account, with a month
surcharge of 6% to be deducted as an escrow safe keeping fee of the
bank account, so as to avoid the indefinite closure of the bank
account.

My proposition to you is to seek your consent, and to present your
kind self as the next-of-kin and beneficiary of my deceased client,
since you have the same last name with him. This means that the
proceeds of his bank account would be paid to you as his next of kin
or the legitimate beneficiary. When the proceeds in his bank account
are paid to you, we would share the proceeds on a mutually agreed-upon
percentage of 60% to me and 40% to your kind self.

All the legal documents to back up your claim as my client''s
next-of-kin would be provided by me. The most important thing i would
need is your honest cooperation to in this proposition. This would be
done under a legitimate arrangement that would protect you from any
breach of the law.

If this business proposition offends your moral and ethic values, do
accept my sincere apology. Please contact me at once if you interested
by replying the mail and ignore it if you are not.

Best regards,

Barrister Musa Ahmed


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