joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Jonathan Crawford" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jonathancrawford259@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2012 12:55:25 -0400
Subject: Greetings,

Greetings,

How are you doing?
I am Jonathan Crawford from the United Kingdom. I am a legal solicitor
practicing in the field of family disputes and litigation, will and estate
disputes (under the Inheritance Act 1975 applications).

Firstly, I must solicit your strictest confidence in regards to the subject
matter. This is by virtue of it's nature as being utterly confidential.
I am contacting you regarding the sum of 17 million dollars deposited by my
deceased client at a safe vault in 2005.

Following his unfortunate demise on August 8th 2007, a search was lunched
to locate any surviving relative as none was filled in his testate. My efforts
over the years proved futile. Sequel to the letter I received from the firm,
the funds shall be declared unserviceable and rendered to the revenue
department after a specified period of years, following the expiration of his
Deposit Contract.

My proposal is to present you as the sole beneficiary of these funds
considering the lawyer-client relationship which restrict any claim by me.
Therefore, I am contacting you in good fate, to work with me in receiving
the sum. It will be much easier to establish a relationship between you and

my late client being a foreigner residing outside the U.K. If this meets with
your understanding, I shall provide all necessary legal assistance till the
funds are released to us. Be rest assured there is no potential legal
liabilities to this claim as I have everything under control. This will be
executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you and I from
any breach of the law.

I may be privileged to have this information, but I have decided upon
completion of this project, we get 45% each and 10% to be donated to
charities of our choice. Do affirm your willingness to cooperate with me and

kindly provide your direct phone and fax numbers. If you have any
question(s) or require further clarification, do not hesitate to contact me on
my personal email:jonathancrawford@gmx.com or Phone number +442032397632

Looking forward to your earliest response.

Yours sincerely,
Jonathan Crawford
Legal Solicitor
Provision For Family and Dependents)

Anti-fraud resources: