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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: "Fredrick Williams" <paulcorreos@mail.com>
Reply-To: fredrick.williams@accountant.com
Date: Thu, 10 Oct 2013 12:01:59 +0200
Subject: Letter of Intent




TRANSLATED COPY

Calle Bruc n Nº 84
08009, Barcelona-Spain
Te: +34 603 542 167
E.mail: fredrick.williams@accountant.com
FM/ALFA/AAS307-12
LETTER OF INTENT

Hello Dear

As a matter of introduction my name is Barr. Fredrick Williams, Attorney
to Late Mr. Edwin Landry who perished along-side with her entire family on
the 11th March 2004 train bombing in Madrid. It may surprise you receiving
this letter from me, since there was no previous correspondence between us
but be assured that this proposal was made in good faith for our mutual
benefit hence I solicit your absolute confidence in this matter. In view
of this I got your contact through the British Commerce and Chambers via
internet when I was making a research on a foreigner from her country that
I will used in this great opportunity.

I got a call from a friend of mine who is a banker a couple of months ago
informing me that my late client left the total sum of €10. 700. 000, 00
(Ten Million, Seven Hundred Thousand Euros Only) in a secret bank account
in their bank and provided me with the details of the account. With the
information provided I approached the bank for the release of the fund and
they have agreed to release the fund to the next of kin to my late client
but the problem is that I have not been able to locate anyone related to
my late client and the secret account will be declared unserviceable by
the bank come November which will then authorize the local government of
Madrid to confiscate the fund in accordance with our inheritance law since
my late client died intestate and no one has filed for claim eight years
after her dead.

This by itself is not unusual, we know that many people for different
reasons, some for security reasons, others to avoid tax burden chose to
stash their money in secret bank accounts in foreign countries but I was
surprised that eight years after my client died I did not know she had
such large sum of money in my country until recently. Now my purpose of
contacting you is for you to help secure the fund to avoid it being
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank as unclaimed fund.

Since your interest, honest and sincerity matters a lot, I decided to seek
for whom his/her name shall be used as the next of kin since nobody is
coming for the fund again and the fund has already been approved for
release after my confrontation with the bank, presenting you as my
client’s next of kin would not be a problem because all relevant documents
were submitted to the bank before they were able to consider/approve my
request. The only thing left right now is an affidavit of heir-ship
introducing you to the bank as my client’s next of kin which I will make
available once I hear from you. Again, the bank has informed me that once
the account is declared unserviceable and the fund retired or transferred,
the account will be permanently closed and no further request regarding
the account will be admitted. This is a once in a life time opportunity
therefore I want to partner with you in this project to claim the fund
before it’s too late. Kindly consider my proposal in good faith and honor.

Upon the completion of the transaction you will retain 50% of the total
sum and the remaining 50% will be mine. Please be assured that this
transaction is entirely risk free, no any negative impact and no
government problem as I guarantee the legality and success of the
transaction and once the process of claim begins this transaction will be
completed within seven working days. To get it started please confirm your
full names, address and telephone number via E-mail:
fredrick.williams@accountant.com and you can also reach me on my direct
telephone +34 603 542 167 at any time.

Kindest Regards
Mr Barr.Fredrick Williams
Attorney at Law


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