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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Kelly P.Mark" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barristerfidelisoditah@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2012 03:17:19 -0800
Subject: SEEKING FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE

ATTENTION Beneficiary,
How are you? It is my hope and belief that you will take out time to read and digest this letter and then make out time to reply me as quickly as you can.
My name is Mr.Kelly P.Mark i lived in Nigeria four good ten years,one of the few privileged attorneys and solicitors to the former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak who recently resigned his post as President after about 3 weeks uprising, and barely 24 hours of his resignation most countries of the world are already persecuting him by freezing his Bank accounts in some part of the world like(Switzerland,Nigeria,Brazil,Italy,Russian,) has already done as seen here
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/04/hosni-mubarak-family-fortune) or (http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/swiss-government-freezes-mubarak-s-assets-following-resignation-1.342855) without even bothering to afford him the privilege of a fair hearing from his perspective of events in Egypt as a former president.
Meanwhile, in other to forestall a total freezing of his Bank account in some parts of the world, he has instructed me as his attorney to help him secretly secure the sum of 10Million British Pounds Sterling only (Ten Million British pounds sterling only) which he intended to use in buying a property here in the UK before the uprising erupted in Egypt.
Therefore, to prevent the funds been traceable to him, I have immediately arranged the funds into a box of consignment and deposited it with a reputable Security Company in Nigeria under a fictitious name while declaring the content of the consignment as ARTIFACTS, this way the security company itself does not know the actual content of the consignment except you and myself only.
To this end, all I just need you to do is to furnish me with your full name, contact address information,your private telephone numbers, so I can present your information to the security company as the actual beneficiary of the said consignment in other for them to deliver the consignment to you at your doorstep via the contact mailing address you will provide.However all the relevant documentation for the deposit of the consignment will be provided by me.
Please let me assure you at this juncture that this transaction is 100% legal and risk free and as such for your assistance in helping us receive the consignment from the security company, you will be adequately compensated with 30% of the total sum amounting to Two Million pounds, while we will also seek your professional advice in helping my client buy a property in your country with the remaining 70% as a matter of urgency.
Looking forward to hearing from you soonest so I can furnish you with more details or any further clarification you might require. Please send all reply/correspondence to this email address mrkellypmark@rocketmail.com
for urgent attention.
Yours faithfully,
Mr.Kelly P.Mark

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