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: "Loretta Gordon" (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 09:43:54 -0400
Subject: VERY URGENT REPLY NOW!

DEAR,
am really happy contacting you directly now towards the progress of this transfer.Hope you are doing fine till now??
I am Miss Loretta Gordon from America and 32years old,the assistant managing director of REALITY AUDIT FIRM located in Lewis-ville,Austin-Texas,USA but presently outside the country on a two weeks Audit Seminar Contract with an affiliated bank(STANDARD CHARTERED BANK PLC)located in West Africa,Lagos Nigeria.Here in NIGERIA our AUDIT FIRM is a company of high repute with years of outstanding service to the whole branches of STANDARD CHARTERED BANK PLC worldwide.I have resolved to contact you through this medium based on business proposal that will be of mutual benefit to both of us.
I got your particulars through a consultant company affiliated to the WORLD TRADE CENTER based on my research for a trustworthy and established person that understands investment ethic for entering into a life time profitable joint partnership investment which made me search for you and also co-operation with confidence and trust that you will keep the contents secret and divulged to any third party.
To be explicit and straight to the point,some time early 1996 a reputable client of this named bank deposited a contract sum of $4.5million USD in the vault for safekeeping.And since then our client has failed to come forward to claim his funds which has accumulated a considerable amount of money in demur-rage.Consequently,in our bide to contact this client to redeem the demur-rage which his funds had accumulated,we discovered that our client was the former President of Libya who died during a civil war in the year 2011 and the funds have been entrusted into our care.
Since the death of our client,LATE PRESIDENT MUAMMAR GADDAFI,none of his benefactors has come forward to claim the funds with us which means that,non of his relatives or aids had any knowledge of this deposited funds.Hence,as a Professional in the Audit field, I have access to open the bank"s CENTRAL CONTROL COMPUTER where I found that the funds have been overdue for payment and will be reverted into the Government account as overdue fund anytime from now but if this is done so,this money would probably be shared among the Government top corrupt leaders here and I do not want this happen.
So since this development,I have been nursing plans secretly and also found out from a inquiry and the foreign media that our late client siphoned/embezzled a lot of money from his country while he was in office as Head of States.It is my conviction that the deposited funds in our vault was part of the money that our client siphoned/embezzled and now that he is dead,there is no trace to the money in our care.
I am now soliciting your noble assistance to help me in transferring this money out of Nigeria to your Country for immediate investment with your knowledge.Upon my receipt of your reply confirming your willingness to assist me for this transaction,I will immediately arrange and send all the rights of ownership of this deposited funds to your name to facilitate your easy clearance and transfer of the complete funds to your account.You have nothing to worry about as I will be there to assist you in anyway necessary with all proper documentation.
This transaction is 100% risk free and 100% legal,so please maintain absolute confidentiality on this matter.GOD BLESS YOU!
Yours faithfully,
Loretta Gordon
 

Anti-fraud resources: