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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. Ming Chen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mingchen780@yahoo.cn>
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 18:24:02 +0800
Subject: RE: HELLO

Good Day,

I am Mr. Ming Chen, Auditing and Account Credit Officer, Bank of China Ltd, (Hong Kong). On routine audit check, I discovered an account that has been dormant for the last 7yrs with the total sum of US$22 Million. Banking regulations in China demand that I notify the authorities after a statutory time period of seven years.

Upon my investigations of the said account reveals that the investor died in 2005 the exact time the account was last operated, the said investor died as a result of heart-related condition on March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra Indonesia where they all lost their lives and no next–of–kin to his estate has been found or has come forward all these years. I am of the settled conviction that using my insider leverage, working with you can secure the funds in the account for us instead of allowing it pass as an unclaimed fund into the coffer of the Chinese government.

I decided to contact you simply because you bear the same last name with the deceased and can stand as his extended relative. I have already worked out all the modality to execute the transfer, hence I seek your consent if interested, let me know your stance to enable me send you more detail of this proposition.

I look forward to hear from you.

Sincerely,
Mr.Ming Chen

Anti-fraud resources: