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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: larry Ikenna <larry.ikenna@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2014 15:29:44 +0000
Subject: Re:Your urgent respond needed


LARRY & ASSOCIATES LEGAL ATTORNEYS
9TH FLOOR, ELEPHANT HOUSE 214,
BROAD STREET, FEDERAL CAPITAL
ABUJA-NIGERIA.

Attn: Sir/Madam,

This is a law firm and I am an attorney at law under this firm. Therefore i seek your consent to present you as the heir/heiress or the beneficiary of my late client deceased estate, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you. Then we can share the amount on a mutually agreed-upon percentage. This office as legal representatives of the deceased was issued three years ago with a notice to contact heir/heiress, or the account will be confiscated. I advertised this issue but no one has turned up for this period prompting me to write this letter to you as a last resort to avoid the money from being taken by the state.

I am contacting you to assist in distributing the money and other assets left behind by my client because we are forbidden to operate a foreign account, of which the other assets will be revealed at a later date once this money is successfully transferred. The transfer has to be done before everything is confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where this is deposit valued at US7.2 Million Dollars is lodged.

Note that it is not compulsory that the heir must be a blood relation to the deceased, and no DNA TEST will be conducted An heir could be anybody, Friends, Church, School or Organization etc. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this transaction through. This will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If this business proposition offends your moral values do accept my apology.

If you agree to work with me and we keep this matter confidential then kindly get back to me for more details so that we begin the process of this transaction. I am waiting for your fastest reply for the way forward.

Thank you.

Barr. Larry Ikenna
Partner/Senior Attorney.




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