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: WILLIAMS EKE <mariakwame@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: williams4eke@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 19 Oct 2013 11:04:59 +0100
Subject: FROM WILLIAMS EKE


*Area A Road 21 World bank housing *

*Estate New Owerri Imo State, *

*Nigeria

Dearest Friend,

I am Mr. Williams Eke, principal treasury officer with my bank. I have
decided to contact you through this medium based on a business proposal,
which will be of mutual benefit to both of us. I discovered your email
through comprehensive web email search on directory so I decided to contact
you.

I am the personal account manager to one of our late client, a national of
your country, who used to work with NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION
(NNPC) here in Nigeria as an engineer and a contractor on pipeline
Maintenance, my late client made a numbered time (fixed) deposited for
twelve calendar months, valued at $5,500,000.00 (Five Million Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, we sent a
routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply.

After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his
contract employers, NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION (NNPC) that my
client died from an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found
out that he did not leave a will and all attempts to trace his next of kin
were fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that
the deceased person did not declare any next of kin in all his official
documents, including his bank deposit paperwork with our bank.

This sum of Five Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($5,500,000.00) is
still sitting in our bank and the interest is rolled over with the
principal sum at the end of each year. No one will come forward to claim
it. According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria law, at the expiration of
5{five} years, the money will revert to the ownership of the Nigeria
government if nobody applies to claim the funds.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand
in as the next of kin to deceased person for the fact that you have same
last name with him so that this money will not be reverted by the
government. If this request matches with your inward intention for success
and greatness, then you are urged to make a quick response indicating your
interest and readiness to participate and work with me to make this
transaction successful to your account.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I shall require
your assistance to my share for investment in your country. In your return
mail, please do forward me your following information if you are willing to
complete this deal with me, to enable me put the total funds in your name
for claim as the next of kin to the deceased person:

Should it be that you are not interested in this, please just disregard my
email and never let anyone know about it.*

*Your full name:
Your contact address:
Your phone number:
Your age:*

*Awaiting your urgent reply for more details on claim process in your name.

Yours Brotherly.
Mr. Williams Eke.*

Anti-fraud resources: