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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: "Willy Cameron" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <matthew_kay34@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2012 17:00:22 +0200
Subject: URGENT PROPOSAL.

Hello Partner,
Ref: LSB/CI/ACC/4410956859/003
My Name is Willy Cameron, I'm from England. I am the Head of Computing Dept & Finance Director of Tesco Bank here in England. I have urgent and very confidential business proposition for you. There is an account opened in this bank in 2003,this account belongs to Dr. George Brumley An Oil consultant/contractor with the Chinese Solid Minerals Corporation/British Petrolem.
 
Dr. George Brumley made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at Sixteen Million Five Hundred US dollars in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract employers, the Chinese Solid Minerals Corporation, which Dr. George Brumley died in a plane crash along with his entire family in Kenyan Air Flight crash, view the website for more information about the deceased.
 
http://www.sptimes.com/2003/07/21/Worldandnation/12_Americans_die_in_K.shtml
Since we got this information about his death. On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless. I took the courage to look for a reliable and honest person who will be capable to handle the materializing for this important transaction, in order to transfer out this  Millions of U.S Dollars.  After going through some old files, I discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently, it will be forfeited for nothing and the Goverment might divert the funds to her accounts.
Please respond immediately and I will use my position and influence to effect the legal approval and onward transfer of this fund into your account with appropriate clearance from foreign payment department. You will stand to get 30% while 60% will be for me,then 5% will be mapped out for any expenses might occur during process of the transfer, Kindly quote the reference (Acc) numbers above when responding to this mail. I will furnish you in with more details upon your reply.
 
I look forward to your affirmative response.
 
Sincerely yours,
 
Willy Cameron
(Head of Computing Dept & Finance Director TB)

Anti-fraud resources: