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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: "Mr.Serg Zabo" <zilgerzab@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: malcpm455@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:39:43 +0600 (BDT)
Subject: Did You Receive my Previous Email Message?




Dear Sir/Mam,

I know this letter must come to you as a big surprise, but I believe it is
only a day that people meet and become great friends and business
partners.

I am Mr.Serg Zabo an Accountant & the Auditor General with a reputable
bank here in Nigeria. Though, this medium (Internet) has been greatly
abused, but I choose to reach you through it because it still remains the
fastest and most confidential medium of communication. However, this
correspondence is unofficial and private, and it should be treated as
such. Well I have an urgent and lucrative business transaction that will
Profit the both of us after completion. So I want you to patiently read
through this email and get back to me.

In January 1998,a Saudi Arabian Oil Consultant/Contractor (Mr. Steve) made
a numbered-time (fixed deposit) for twenty four calendar months valued at
($25.150 M) TWENTY FIVE MILLION ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED
STATED DOLLARS Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification of Account
status to his forwarding address but got no reply up till date.

After two months, we sent a reminder of same letter, and finally we
discovered from his contact employers, (Halliburton Oil Services Company)
that Mr. Steve died in a German Concorde AF4590 on Monday, 31 July, 2000.
Please view more details about the crash:
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm)
This office has exhaustively made efforts to locate the next of
kin/beneficiary, or any relative of our deceased customer, all to no avail
and not successful.

I have contacted you to assist me in securing this money before they get
confiscated or declared unserviceable by this bank. The banking law and
guidelines here stipulates that if such an account remains dormant or non-
operational after a period of Ten (10) years, the money will be
transferred into banking treasury as unclaimed fund.

However, attempts have been made twice by the Government Agency concerned
to confiscate this account since the expiration of the Ten years if not
for my
intervention as the head account and audit dept. I have always told them
that the next of kin has been in touch with us. The request of a foreigner
as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the
customer was a foreigner, and you sharing the same last name with the
Deceased customer will help us achieve this goal.

Kindly Provide me with your details as follows to easy and effective
communication:

Full name:
Country Location:
Phone/fax:
Age:

Note that this transaction requires utmost trust and sincerity, get back
to me so i can give you more details so we can proceed.

Best regards,
Mr.Serg Zabo

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