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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Brown Harris <harrisbr22@yahoo.com.tw>
Reply-To: Brown Harris <harrisbrown2014@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 06:01:13 +0800 (CST)
Subject: From: Mr. Harris Brown Good.




 

UBS Bank AG Z?rich
Switzerland
Postal Account:80-2-2

Good Day,

I am a consultant, working with UBS Zurich Switzerland. I will be happy to  execute this deal with you if you have a corporate or personal Bank Account and  if you are capable of handling issues as a TOP SECRET. I therefore need a  strong Assurance that you will never let me down, when I transfer this money to  your account.

Thus during one of our periodic auditing I discovered a dormant account with  holding balance of US$ 32,000.000.00 { Thirty Two million US Dollars only},  Sometimes a person will open a bank account, deposit money in it, and then will  disappear into the tin air.

Banks are not always able to find out what has become of these silent  customers, or to know whether they should follow up on requests from people who  claim to be heirs to the accounts. The main problem is that the customer  resides abroad and, due to bank secrecy and code of conduct, the bank cannot  publish notices in the international press to locate the depositaries. This has  led the majority of Swiss banks to refrain from opening small-deposit accounts  for foreign customers; for fear that they will forget that the account exists.

It has happened in the past, however, such customers pass away and their heirs  can neither prove the death, nor their heir ship. This was a frequent  occurrence during the wartime periods, also now that have many reports of  environmental hazards with many unknown casualties and the banks have now set  up a simple, rapid resolution procedure operating to their customers'  advantage.

Dormant assets are defined as any assets deposited with a bank (i.e. an  account, a custody account or a safety-deposit box) for which there has been no  contact with the customer in the bank's files for the last ten years or more.

I am constrained to issue more details about this business transaction until  your response is received. If you know that you will be capable to handle large  or small amount on trust and can to keep all matters secret and ready to take  45% of any amount I transfer to your account from the dormant account and I  will take 55%, send your account information's by return mail. Tell me more  about yourself, while I look forward to receive the above information.

I want to re-assure you that this business is risk free and you can send an  empty account to receive the funds, provided that the account is capable to  receive incoming funds.

Look forward to discuss this opportunity further with you in detail. Please  email me back on this mail address: (harrisbrown250@yahoo.com.hk) Or provide me  with your phone number for discussion of this transaction in further details.

Thank you for your time and attention.

Warmest regards,

Mr.Harris Brown.

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