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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: Christopher Philips <philipsgutter1974@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: chriskcphil2000@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:37:41 +0200
Subject: Hello



Hello dear,

I presumed that all is well with you and your family. Please let this
proposal not come to you as a surprise, because we haven't met before.
I got your contact information from a web directory few weeks ago
before I decided to contact you on this business opportunity.

My name is Christopher Philips;I'm an employee of Bank of China (UK)
Limited London .I am an account officer to Mr. Rafik Hariri, Born in
Lebanon in 1944, The late Rafik Hariri was a Lebanese self-made
billionaire and business tycoon, and was five times Prime Minister of
Lebanon. You can view this site for confirmation.

http://www.rhariri.com/general.aspx?pagecontent=biography

I am also a member of an Ad hoc committee recently set up by the
British Government to look into growing number of dormant accounts in
UK banks due to deaths of customers, with a view to finding ways of
locating relatives of the dead customers. The British Government is
already working with some NGO'S through the unclaimed Assets Register,
to confiscate and divert unclaimed depositor's funds to help the bad
economy.

Read this article below:

http://www.unclaimedassets.co.uk/trace_forgotten_funds.htm


This particular case involves a customer in my bank Mr. Rafik
Hariri,which i already told you about and also the circumstances
surrounding huge deposits of US Dollars made by this customer at the
Private Banking arm of GE Capital Bank.This customer died in testate
and nominated no successor in title over the huge deposits of (36, 759
000.00 million British Pounds)

I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this email
private and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a
result of this email. I'm contacting you independently of our
investigation and no one is informed of this communication between you
and I. I would like to intimate you with facts that I believe would be
of interest to you.I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and
have them release the deposit to you. I assure you that I can have the
deposit released to you within few days once you accept this proposal.
Upon receipt of the deposit, I'm prepared to share the money with you
50/50.

I am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you
find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail. 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.
You may not know this but people like me who have made tidy sums out
of comparable situations run the whole private banking sector. I am
not a criminal and what I do, I do not find 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 in a lifetime. I cannot let this
chance pass me by, for once; I have found myself in total control of
my destiny. These chances 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 change my life for good. Moreover, my 12 yrs old
daughter, my only child, is suffering from Leukemia and she needs an
urgent bone marrow surgery in California as advised by my family
doctor. But it will cost me around US$100,000.00 to take her for the
surgery. And that is why I?m eager to utilize this opportunity since
our family doctor has given my daughter just three months to live.

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. I am the only one who knows of
this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a name that has
planted you into the center of relevance in my life. Let?s share the
blessing.

If you give me positive signals, I will initiate this process towards
a conclusion.

I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the
consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing
gained and that success and riches never come easy or on a platter of
gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking
customers. Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, we
should plan a meeting, soon.

Anticipating your immediate response.

Christopher Philips.


Anti-fraud resources: