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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: JOE PHILIP <hope_is_a_great_thing@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: JOE PHILIP <jphil100742@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2014 03:01:28 +0900 (JST)
Subject: URGENT


Dear Sir,

My name is Barrister Joe Philip,
solicitor at law. I am the Personal attorney to late Engr. Steve of
Blessed memory, surname withheld for security reasons. My late client
was a member of board of directors AT Oritz Oil & Gaz Limited. He
retired in 2004 and started gold mining business till his death on the
7th of May 2007 in a car accident in which his wife and two children
died along with him. They have since been buried. May thier Souls rest
in peace!

Before his death, Mr. Steve has a deposit with a
finance firm. The bank has since mandated me to provide the next-of-kin
to the man within three weeks or else the money will be confiscated as
unserviceable funds. Since then I have made several enquiries to locate
any of my clients extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.
To this effect, I have made several efforts to locate any relative of
the man but have failed to make any meaningful progress. No other person
knows about this account or any thing concerning it, the account has no
other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me that his supposed
next of kin died along with him in the accident. Consequently, Since I
have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives. I seek your consent to
present you as the beneficiary of the funds so that the proceeds of
this account valued at US$18.5 million USD can be paid to you since both
of you were from the same country. And then you and me can share the
money. 50% to me and 40% to you and the remaining 10% shall be for any
expenses we might encounter during the transfer. I have all necessary
legal documents that can be used to back up any claim we may make. Now
that the deadline given is at hand, I would like you to assist me in
recovering this money from the bank as the man's next-of-kin. There will
be all necessary documentation to see to this. The procedure for
approval is simple once you indicate your interest, an affidavit of
claim will be made and a letter of admnistration obtained from the
probate Registry which will authorise the release of the funds to you.
This documents and some others will be notarised and forwarded to the
legal department of the Bank for vetting and approval.

As you
can see everything will follow a normal legal process,thereby assuring
you that you are not exposing yourself to any legal problem. I will back
up all necessary documents that will be required from the court. You
don't have to worry about any risk. All I require is your honest
co-operation to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that this
will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you
from any breach of the law. If this proposal is acceptable to you,
kindly email your following information to me:
(1).Your Full name and
a contact address as you want to appear in the payment documents (2)
Private telephone and fax numbers d. Also inform me
on how you want
the funds to be paid to you. As you can see time is of great essence as
the bank has given me deadline. Contact me so that I will give you more
information and forward all necessary documents that will clarify you
more on the legitimate of the process.
Awaiting your immediate response.
Best regards,
Barrister Joe Philip.

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