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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "ramon" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alonso.ramon@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2013 10:52:17 +0200
Subject: Hello Friend

 
Dear
 
Accept my sincere apology for this unsolicited Mail to you, I am aware that this is certainly not a conventional way of approach to establish a relationship of trust but you will realize the need for my action. This Mail may come to you as a surprise; my name is Barrister Ramon Alonso of Paseo de la Castellana 110, Madrid 28046, Spain. I am writing to you in regards to my deceased client, Abu Bakr Yunis who was the former Libyan defense minister to the late dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi. In the spite of the recent revolution that took place in Libya, I believe you already knew what happened to Muammar Gaddafi and his royal family during the revolution in Tripoli. On the 4th of May, 2011, a Red Cross medical aid diplomatic worker was sent to me by late, Abu Bakr Yunis who was the defense minister to the Muammar Gaddafi's collapsed government with a trunk box containing the sum of $6.5 Million (Six Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars), his intention was to elope from Libya to Spain and settle
 
His instruction was that I should secure the fund for him and that it should be kept under maximum confidentiality. He advised that the fund should be deposited under the name of his senior aide Mr. Abraham Abba who also died in the war. Death is inevitable, man proposes and God disposes. Luck ran against them and they both of them died in the war. I secured and disguised this cash ($6.5 Million) which was packaged out of Libya by the assistance of Red Cross medical aid diplomatic worker to a security safe keeping company here in Spain in a family trunk metal box and I declared it as family teasures/personal   effect putting the name of his late aide Mr. Abraham Abba as the beneficiary. The security institution being aware of  his death have mandated me  to  present a member of his family (heir/inheritor)or Next of kin to make Claims of his vault otherwise it will be forfeited, seized or confiscated by the authorities and reverts to the treasury of the Spanish Ministry  as uncla
 
This is because in accordance with the Spanish law, such fortune is automatically bequeathed to the government if there is no heir or Next of kin to the deceased that would surface to claim the fortune. However, this law is unjust and inhuman as it often creates an avenue for the top officials of some financial institutions to divert such fortunes for their own selfish use. On that ground, I decided to search for any of my late client's relative which has proved abortive as he did not declare officially any Next of kin or beneficiary.
I did not disclose the content of the vault to the safe keeping firm as money for security and personal reasons; I declared the content as sensitive personal valuables. The vault was deposited Wednesday 6th of May 2011 at 12:17pm at the Madrid central office of the safe keeping firm. My late client did not state the Next of kin or beneficiary due to his immediate investments plans.I know you might not be related but after countless efforts to locate direct relative to my late client’s aide and three months final notice from the safe keeping company to present a beneficiary to the vault of my late client. And failure to meet up with this deadline means the vault will be liquidated to the bureau of public and unclaimed vault and that I forbid happening.
 
Against this backdrop, I decided to contact you to join me to put claims on this deposit before it`s forfeited to the authorities. My suggestion to you is, I will like to present you as the Next of Kin and beneficiary to this deposit, since you are both foreign nationals and  by virtue of my position as his personal Attorney before his demise, I will now place your name as the Next of kin/Beneficiary to my late client and I will prepare all relevant legal documentations that will assist to facilitate the release of the vault to you without any breach of the law. Note, I have worked out all modalities to complete the transaction successfully, be rest assured that the transaction is 100% legal and risk free. Once the vault is released to you, we shall share in the ratio of 50% for me, 45% for you while remaining 5% will be set aside for any expenses incurred during the cause of securing this deposit.
If my proposal is acceptable to you, Kindly reply via my private email address for further discussion on how to proceed Email: ramon.alonso@aol.com
 
Regards,

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