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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: "Dean P. Townsend" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <deantownp@post.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 21:32:43 -0700
Subject: We want to invest in your country, please contact us fo more details now

Good afternoon to you my friend,
 
Maybe you have forgotten me, but this is the second time I am sending this message to you. I hope it gets to you this time around so that I can reveal more of the message to you.  I have a very lucrative project that I want you and I to execute immediately. Now let me tell you the full details of the project, There is a dormant acccount where i work with a Financial Security Company. The account belongs to a client of mine who made full deposit of his funds. The name of the client is Mr. Albert Jack Stanley, the former KBR Inc. Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who is currently in confinement as a result of his involvement in inducement scandals.
 
For more details about Mr. Albert Stanley, kindly visit the news link below,
 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-23/ex-kbr-ceo-albert-stanley-gets-30-month-prison-term-in-nigeria-bribe-case.html
 
My client Mr. Albert J. Stanley now want his funds with our bank to be transferred into a safety place for investment purpose pending on his release to avoid the Big Society Capital, a new financial institution set up by the government to finance charities and community groups taken over the funds. i want you to understand that a dormant account is when an account is declared dormant after a bank or building society has failed in attempts to contact the holder; if letters or statements are returned marked "not known at this address", and if it is unused for an extended period of time. The Financial Security Company and Big Society Capital had in the past sent numerous letters to Mr. Albert Jack Stanley address, but the entire letters bounced back without a reply.
 
However, before all these drama started, Mr. Albert Jack Stanley had already told me to look for someone to invest his funds outside of England, and I am doing exactly what Mr. Albert had instructed me to do by making contact with you to come forward to take full possession of his funds valued Seven Million, Five Hundred Thousand Pounds (7.5MGBP) with our company. This is very simple and direct because as soon as I get your full consent to participate in this project, I am going to give you his online account username and password to access the availability of the funds through the Financial company website. Therefore, immediately this is verified from you, we are going to sign a Memorandum of understanding to abide us together, and then contact the Financial company to reactivate the account for the transfer to take place. Please note that it cost nothing to reactivate a dormant account, and also the transaction is legal and free from any encumbrances. If interested, you are going t
o receive 15% of the tota
 
For us to proceed, I would like to know your full name, address, age, and occupation, this is to enable me prepare the memorandum of understanding, send across to you to go through, and then sign.
 
Please if you have any question, do not hesitate to inform me for further clarification.
 
I will be waiting to hear from you.
 
Contact me through my private email deantownp@post.com
 
Regards,

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