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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: Christopher Benson <christbenson12@gmail.com>
Reply-To: christbenson13@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 12:36:57 -0800
Subject: Greetings From Christopher

From:Mr Christopher Benson
>From The Desk of Mr Christopher Benson.Branch Manager International
Commercial Bank Limited, Ghana

Good day Friend,

I am pleased to get across to you for a very urgent and profitable
business proposal, I got
your e-mail address in Internet while browsing after I decided to
contact you and ask for
your assistance in this urgent matter, requiring trust and confidentiality.
I am Mr Christopher Benson, the Branch manager,
InternationalCommercial Bank Limited,
Ghana), Married with Five children.

I am writing this letter to ask for your support and co-operation to
carry out this business
opportunity in my department, On June 6, 1999,an America Oil
consultant/contractor with
Petroleum Corporation, Mr.Thomas Stone, made a numbered time (fixed)
deposit for twelve
calendar months, Valued at US$12,000,000.00 (Twelve Million United
State Dollars in my
branch upon maturity.

I 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,
the Petroleum
Corporation that Mr. Thomas Stone, died in the plane crash On October
31, 1999, (an Egyptian
Boeing 767 Flight 990) with other passengers on board as you can
confirm it yourself via the
WEBSITE below for verification (BBC WORLD NEWS.WEBSITE)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm

Most astonishing of my discovery was that, all records bear no next of
kin, meaning no
member of Mr. Thomas Stone, family knows about the deposit therefore,
no member of his
family will ever come forward to claim the money, In order for the
bank not to transfer the
said sum of Twelve Million United State Dollars ($12,000,000.00) as
unclaimed funds to the
ghana treasury account, the above stated funds most be claimed
immediately by somebody
standing in as late Mr. Thomas Stone.

Next of Kin, because According to (GHANA LAW), at the expiration of
(15) Fifteen years; the
money will revert to the ownership of the (GHANA) Government if nobody
applies to claim the
fund, This revelation is only known to me because I was his personal
account officer before
I was posted to become the branch manager, now I seek your
collaboration to act as next of
kin to late Mr. Thomas Stone, to claim the funds and move them into
useful investments.
We shall split the cash between our self upon the confirmation of the
money into your
account,

I am ready to offer you 35% of the total fund and 60% for me while 5%
will be set aside for any expenses might occur during the transaction.
Please note that by the virtue of
my position in the bank, I have worked out the perfect modality as
well as I shall provide
the relevant information's and documents for the successful claim and
transfer of the funds
in the account that will be provided by you.I cannot stand in the
forefront of this transaction because I work with the bank, that is
why I have come to you, for assistance be rest assured that this
project involve no risk to
you, upon the receipt of your acceptance mail me, I will like you to
provide me with the
following details, to my private email addresses:(christbenson13@yahoo.co.jp)

Then I shall furnish you with due process of concluding this
transaction without any delay.
Please discard this message if you are not interested. One Passionate
appeal I will make to
you is not to discuss this matter with anybody, if you have any
reasons to reject
this offer, please and please destroy this message as any Leakage of
this information will
be too bad for me at my work place, as the Branch Manager
International Commercial Bank
Limited, Ghana.

Thanks for your kind Understanding.

Yours
Faithfully,
Mr Christopher Benson

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