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: "Harrison James" <london@4u.com.gh>
Reply-To: harrison_james39@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2013 11:07:00 -0000
Subject: ATTENTION......




I am Mr.Harrison James, a staff of auditing and accounting section of
NatWest Bank Plc in London United Kingdom. With due respect and regard, I
wish to seek your urgent assistance to transfer the sum of (22.4 million
pounds sterling GBP) from the above mentioned bank.
This money belongs to one of our customers, Engineer. Christian Eich, an
engineer who ran carmaker BMW's museum who died on a plane crash on July
25th 2000 with his wife and two children and his wife's parents were also
among the victims that perished in the air France Concorde New York bound
flight; please click here for verification:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
The fund has been lying dormant in the bank with out any claim, either
from his family or relation up to date.
I am contacting you to act as the bonafide next of kin to the deceased.
There is no risk in this transaction, as all looped holes have been taken
care off, and all necessary information as regards to this fund has been
secured.
Be notified that I am still working with the bank and I am the only one
aware of this development; treat this proposal as confidential and secret
for our security. I have served the bank faithfully for good number of
years and I am presently preparing for my retirement therefore, I see this
as a golden opportunity to be comfortable in life after retirement. As
soon as this fund is secured into your account, I will come over for the
collection of our due share.
We are to share this money between ourselves and also donate 10% to
charity, if you are really interested in this offer, you should contact me
through my email address. Once we complete this transaction, bear in mind
that i will be coming over to your country for the due share of the money.
Send me your full name, address and your direct phone number, so that we
can proceed in this transaction
Please reply me as soon as possible, so that we can discuss in details of
this transaction before the bank confiscates the fund due to unclaimed.

Yours Truly,

Harrison James.

Anti-fraud resources: