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: "JOHN FRANCIS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnfrancis4@postino.net>
Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2013 03:25:05 -0700
Subject: MR. JOHN FRANCIS.

John  Francis
Francis & Associate,
4 Albert Embankments, London
SE1 7SR, United Kingdom.
johnfrancis4@postino.net
 
Dear,
 
 
I am writing you relating to my clients deposit with a bank here in London. I am a lawyer; I have a client, who works with Company here in London. My client, his wife and two children were involved in a motor accident along Manchester Express Road. All occupants of the vehicle lost their lives.
Meanwhile my client has a deposit of huge sum of money with a finance institution,  now the finance institution has issued me a notice to provide any relatives of my client otherwise they will have the account closed and the fund confiscated.
 
I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate my client's extended relatives, this proved unsuccessful, now I decided to trace any of his relatives or family member over the internet, hence I contacted you to assist me in repatriating my late client deposit before it got confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Finance institution where the fund was lodged. I seek your consent to present you as the relative to my deceased client so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. I have all necessary legal documents that can be used to back up any claim you make.
 
I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch with me immediately if you are interested to assist me and do not forget to send me your contact address, and direct telephone number to enable me commence work in your name. Looking forward to your prompt response.
 
Yours Sincerely,
 
John Francis.

Anti-fraud resources: