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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: Mr Richard Momoh <richard.m1.zenithbankng@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Mar 2015 13:50:46 -0800
Subject: PLEASE READ

Dear Sir/Madam,
Good day and compliments. I am contacting you based on a business proposal
that I know will benefit both you and I. I am Mr Richard Momoh. I am the
personal accounts officer to one late Mr Erickson Brandon, a native of
United States of America. He lived in Nigeria together with his family.

Until his death, Mr Ericsson Brandon was a federal contractor to Nigeria
national petroleum company (NNPC) and supplied most of the fittings used to
upgrade our country's international air-ports. I personally handled all his
financial transactions and legal matters which made him leave most of this
vital payment documents under my care because of how close we were and the
trust and confidence he had on me. Mr Erickson was a hard working man but
was unfortunate as him and his entire family was wiped out in Dana air
crash that happened last year and this I have not disclosed to my bank or
any person till date. Before the untimely death of Mr Erickson, he made a
supply of oil tools to the NNPC which amount to $200,000,000 (Two hundred
million US dollars). The money was paid and he deposited the entire sum
with my bank on 2 years time period. Now as his personal accounts officer,
the the 2 year maturity period has now expired and my bank is trying to
reach him or any of his relatives so that they will pay this money to them.
The truth remains that no body knows that Mr Erickson is now late and his
only son which he used as his next of kind also died with him in the
accident. I have tried to see if I can reach any of his family members and
have went to the address he gave me as his sisters house in US but on
getting there did not meet any one and all efforts to reach any of them
proved abortive.

Now to cut the whole story short, I want to present you as Mr Erickson's
next of kin so that this money will be paid to you while we share the money
in 2 equal half's. I want to assure you that I have the duplicate deposit
certificate of this money and all I want is a sincere person who will not
run away or disappear with the whole money when it is paid into his account
because the money will be paid into a foreign account which should be
yours, I will come to your country immediately the money is transferred
into your account for sharing.

I will personally hire a registered attorney to handle all the legal
documents and notaries. Now why I am contacting you is based o these two
facts:
(a) I need a foreign person to present as the next of kin as he will also
bring his account for the money to be paid in.
(b) Because I cannot finance to pay for the documents alone hence why I
need you so that we share the expenses equally.

The only challenge we have here is money to raise original DEPOSIT
CERTIFICATE, CONTRACT APPROVAL AND AWARD CERTIFICATE FROM NNPC AND JOB
COMPLETION ORDER. These will be attached with a POWER OF ATTORNEY FROM A
REGISTERED SENIOR ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA which shall be stamped and sealed at
the federal high court, Abuja.

Be assured that the process is so easy and takes less time. what I need is
someone who will support financialy to gather the documents so that this
fund will be transfered into your account. The money that I seek will be
used for validation of documents and signing of relevant payment receipts
but most especially to acquire these 4 vital documents (original DEPOSIT
CERTIFICATE, CONTRACT APPROVAL AND AWARD CERTIFICATE FROM NNPC AND JOB
COMPLETION ORDER) all these documents will have you as his only next of kin
to make it authentic and official. Note I will be a silent partner but will
also contribute financially for these.

I would not have done this if there if I have seen any of Mr Erickson
Brandon family to claim the money but as it is right now if I leave it or
make my bank to know that he is dead and none of his family member is
around, some few managers will sit together and share the money within
themselves. This is not the first time I have seen it happen, so it is
better for me to have it than to allow them share the money and continue
growing bigger

I cannot move the money in my name because he was my client and it could
create suspicion hence the importance of your assistance. Have my assurance
that there is nothing to fear about, as I also need your assurance that you
would work with me with a high degree of honesty and sincerity to achieve
our desired objective. The legal procedure is no problem for I would be
responsible.

Since the codicil was not ready before his death, a letter of
administration without WILL would be secured from the probate office. With
this letter I would personally apply on your behalf to the bank for the
release of the funds to you. Below is required from you to enable
us achieve the above;
1. YOUR NAME
2. ADDRESS
3. CONTACT PHONE NUMBER
4. DATE OF BIRTH AND AGE
5. OCCUPATION
6. WORK ADDRESS AND PHONE NUMBER
6. SCANNED COPY OF YOUR DRIVERS LICENSE.

I will highlight you with the remaining details and way forward on hearing
from you and will furnish you with the whole information you need to know
about this transaction on your reply.

Yours faithfully,
Mr Richard Momoh

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