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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. Marcel Stoc" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mstocc@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:10:40 -0400
Subject: From: Mr. Marce Stoc

Dear Sir,
 
How are you today? I hope fine. I am Mr. Marcel Stoc, I work for Birmingham Midshires Commercial Bank, London United Kingdom. I am writing you on a transaction which will be of a great immense benefit for both of us. In my department being the manager, I discovered an abandoned sum of £9.709, 000 Million (Nine Million Seven hundred Nine Thousand British Pounds Sterling) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers, Late Rafik Hariri, Born in Lebanon in 1944, and 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 
 
The choice of contacting you is aroused from the fact that 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
 
I seek your consent to present you as the Next of kin /Will Beneficiary to the deceased as mentioned above so that the proceeds of this account valued at £6.709, 000 Million GBP can be paid to you as his appointed next of kin.
 
Do not betray my confidence. If we can be of one accord, I shall furnish you with the details of your role in this transaction. All I need now is your honest Co-operation, Confidentiality and Trust to enable us sees this Transaction through. I guarantee you that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law
 
Anticipating your immediate response.
 
Regards,
Mr. Marcel Stoc

Anti-fraud resources: