joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "MR.CRISTIAN BALCELLS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <crbalcells@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2014 18:03:36 +0530
Subject: URGENT BUSINESS DEAL FROM SPAIN

Dear Friend.,


I am Cristian Balcells an Attorney at Law, working with the above named law firm in Barcelona, Spain.

Initially, I tried to contact you through an email but it returned undelivered probably due to incomplete address; hence I decided using normal letter posting as the only option unexplored.

I am writing to notify you of the INVESTMENT PROPOSITION of Firas Tlass, son of Mustafa Tlass, the former defense minister under Hafez al Assad – who defected on 12 March 2012 to Paris.

My client Firas Mustafa Tlass, is a Syrian business tycoon and a member of a significant Sunni family who had close relations with former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, but defected to the Syrian opposition during the Syrian civil war.

He has surplus funds for investment in the amount of twelve million; five hundred thousand United States Dollars (US$12.5 Million) currently kept under trust with a financial institution in Spain. This institution will be made known to you if you deem my proposal satisfactory.

We are compelled to taking this step as the present regime in Syria is presently hunting the investments of both civilians and military personnel who have lost fate with the BASIR Al ASAD government.

Now that my client is presently on political asylum in France, there is little or nothing he can do to handle huge investment funds as because of corruption probes of associates of the Bashir Al Asad Regime abroad.

It is in this regard that I decided to solicit your assistance, by presenting you with this investment proposal so that you can be appointed as the investment partner of Firas Mustafa Tlass who will take possession of the deposit in Spain for onward investment in any viable business in any part of you world that you deem safe.

NB: This transaction is very confidential and 100% risk free as I prepare the Investment Management Agreement and proper letter of authority backed by affidavit of change of beneficiary to enable you act as the manager of the deposited funds in Spain.

This transaction shall be executed under legitimate and legal procedures that will protect you from any breach of both local and international Laws.

Therefore, do not hesitate to revert back to me, either via fax or email, with the following details if my proposal interests you: A signed copy of this letter, reconfirmation of your address, your telephone and fax numbers.

Best regards,
Cristian Balcells
Abogado(Attorney At Law)

Anti-fraud resources: