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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: "Mr.Steve Reid" <info@uk.co.com>
Reply-To: mrstevereid@live.com
Date: Fri, 12 Jul 2013 14:08:10 +0000
Subject: Dear Sir Thanks for your response



Dear Sir,Thanks for your response

I sincerely apologize for intruding into your privacy, especially by
contacting you through this means for a business transaction of this
magnitude. For this reasons, I want our communication to be basically
through email for now. I want you to partner with me in getting back
the money (US$4,800,000.00) left behind in a fixed deposit account in
our bank by a citizen of your country, Mr.Kishan Krishnavanshi. If
this will endanger your position and reputation, I would not have
contacted you. This is safe and beneficial. I am presently the
operations manager of our Bank in Scotland, United Kingdom, please do
not expose this transaction for any reason, I will give you more
information of myself, our bank and the transaction itself once you
write again.

Late Mr.Kishan Krishnavanshi lived and worked in Aberdeen City as an
international businessman. He deposited in our bank the sum of Four
Million, Eight Hundred Thousand US Dollars (US$4,800,000.00) as fixed
deposit. This deposit has long matured and has gone dormant for about
three years. We have tried to reach him and could not. His telephone
number could not be reached, emails sent to him kept bouncing back as
undelivered and we never got any response from the letters posted to
his residential address. This issue prompted me to carry out an
independent investigation about his whereabouts since he did not
provide a next of kin or beneficiary at the time he made the deposit
with us. I later realized with shook that he died sometime in June
2008 of heart related illness in a Scotland hospital. His death was
not reported to our bank from that time till this moment and nobody in
our bank is aware of this. He was a kind heated man and give money out
freely. I pray his soul rest in peace

However, I have on my own made several inquiries at your embassy and
no information of him was found, which I find weird. My effort to
locate any of his relatives took me to your country and the regional
passport office in New Delhi informed me that the passport number was
irrelevant and not issued anywhere in India. Since this is the issue,
I want you to apply as the next of kin of the deceased to claim the
deposit from our bank since it is assumed he was from India. It does
not matter whether you knew him or not, it does not matter if you have
any kind of relationship with him or not. I will guide you all the way
to make this claim. This is not a matter of being greedy or having
ugly morals, it is not the best to leave the money to eventually end
up in Government hands while we have the opportunity to live better
with it. This is a risk free transaction, as I am the operations
manager of our Bank and the final approval of your application will be
done by my department. Once it is approved, you will have the right to
claim the money. And when it is transferred to you, I will come to
meet with you in order to share the money which will be into two equal
parts (50:50) for each of us after deducting all the costs incurred in
getting the money.

With my influence, our bank will tender the necessary documents to
appropriate authorities, like your country's central bank (RBI) to
enable a smooth transfer of the money into your bank account.
Everything will be done legally, have no fear about this. Right now, I
have all the copies of the documents relating to the fixed deposit
late Mr.Kishan Krishnavanshi made that you will file to back up this
claim. All I require now is your honest cooperation to enable us make
this claim and we have to do this within shortest time possible. If
you are willing to do this with me, write back and I shall inform you
on what next to do. If nothing is done immediately, the money will be
returned to the government treasury as an abandoned fund and we will
gain nothing from it. I am waiting for your consent in order to move
to the next step towards getting the fund. Thank you and I am waiting.

Best regards,
Mr.Steve Reid
+ (44)701-006-583

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