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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: "Anette Nielsen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <anettenielsen2@consultant.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Jan 2013 01:10:40 +0200
Subject: Missing Relative

Dear Sir/Madam,

My name is Anette Nielsen; I work with the Finders international probate genealogists, Finders is a professional firm of international probate genealogists. We trace missing beneficiaries or identify and locate heirs to estates. Typically a lawyer will have encountered problems in trying to find beneficiaries and contacted us to assist as we are experienced experts in this specialist field with the often formidable task of identifying and tracing heirs and locating missing or unknown beneficiaries.

We have a tried, trusted and QC approved solution to the problem of the Deceased reportedly having 'no living relatives', whereby you won't incur any risk or fees, whilst observing best practice.

In the majority of cases there are living and entitled next of kin somewhere; they may be very distantly related or living abroad and they may have never even heard of the Deceased, but they are still legitimate beneficiaries. We can usually find next of kin extremely quickly, often within days, and at our own risk and expense.

We apply our proven methodical and diligent approach to each and every case we handle and, coupled with a thorough understanding of the considerable technological and historical sources currently available, successful enquiries can often be guaranteed.

The essence of this communication with you is to request that you provide us information on these inquiries:

1-Do you know of any family member or associate who leave abroad -------(Yes or No)
2- This individual was once a resident of Mexico and Canada ------------(Yes or No)
3-Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such person at the HSBC Bank? --------------(Yes or No)
4- Can we send you more information about the investigation? --------------(Yes or No)

It will be appropriate that you inform us whether or not you are familiar with this individual, so that we may investigate further with the personality.

You must appreciate that we are constrained from providing you with lot of detailed information at this point. PLEASE RESPOND BACK TO MY DIRECT EMAIL ADDRESS: anettenielsen2@consultant.com to afford us the opportunity to close this investigation.

Thank you for accommodating our enquiry.

Yours sincerely,
Anette Nielsen
Senior General Manager
Finders international probate genealogists

Anti-fraud resources: