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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: admin <admin@markocampo.com>
Reply-To: <mark.owen111@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2013 12:02:09 -0700
Subject: Proposal

Dear Beneficiary,

I am Mr. Mark Owen Head of foreign Department of Guarantee Trust Bank
GTB Ghana. I am writing you about a business proposal that will be of an
immense benefit to both of us. In my department, being the manager Accra
Office, I discovered a Sum of £16.5 Million (Sixteen Million Five
Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) in an account that Belongs to one of
our foreign customer Mr. Moises Saba Masri he is a Billionaire, a Jew
from Mexico who was a victim of an helicopter crash last year, killing
him and his family members. Saba was 46-years-old. Also in the chopper
at the time of the crash was his wife, their son Avraham (Albert) and
his daughter-in-law including the pilot.

The choice of contacting you aroused from the geographical nature of
where you live, particularly due to the sensitivity of the transaction
and the confidentiality herein. Now our bank has been waiting for any of
the relatives to come-up for the claim but nobody has done that. I
personally have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives, I seek your
consent to present you as the next of kin/Will Beneficiary to the
deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at £16.5 Million
Pounds can be paid to you.

This will be disbursed or shared in these percentages, 60% to me and
40% to you. I have secured all necessary legal documents that can be
used to back up this claim we are making. All I need is to fill in your
names to the documents and legalize it in the court here to prove you as
the legitimate beneficiary. All I require now is your honest
Co-operation, Confidentiality and trust to enable us see 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.

Please, provide me the following, as we have fourteen days to run it
through. This is very URGENT please respond through this email address:
mark.owen111@hotmail.com

YOUR ACCOUNT FULL NAMES:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
BANK NAME:
ACCOUNT NUMBER:
SWITF CODE:
PHONE NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
COMPANY NAME IF ANY:
COPY OF IDENTITY:

Having gone through a methodical search, I decided to contact you
hoping that you will find this proposal interesting. Please on your
confirmation of this message and indicating your interest I will furnish
you with more information. Endeavor to let me know your decision please
do not keep me waiting. Thanking you in anticipation of your favorable
reply.

Best Regards,
Mark Owen
mark.owen111@hotmail.com

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