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: "RAMON HIDALGO" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bufaramalgo@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2015 11:19:45 +0200
Subject: RE: NEODKLADOU REAKCI NUTNÁ

Good day
My name is Ramon Hidalgo, a personal Attorney to a Deceased Client. Actually, I got your contact information through public records while searching for a last name similar to my late client, an expatriate engineer who worked with the Mining and Smelting Company (Asturiana de Zinc S.A.) in Spain for thirteen years. He died along with his family during a car Accident.

Before his death, he deposited the sum of $10,500,000.00 (Ten Million, Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) with one of our branch here in Spain, but the money was deposited in an insurance coded account with insurance premium for security reasons. The bank has mandated me to present any family heir/inheritor for claim before the money gets confiscated or reverts to the Bank treasury, as an unclaimed fund. So I decided to search for any of my late client's relative which has been very difficult for me, as he did not declare any other person, address, partner or relatives in the official paper works of his fund deposit.

My suggestion to you is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand as the next of kin to my Deceased Client, since you both share the same last name so that the money will be released to you. With my position as his lawyer and insider in the bank, I will now place your name as the next of kin to our late customer. I will prepare every relevant document that will assist your claims, and facilitate the release and transfer of the money to your bank account.

Note that this transaction is 100% risk free. There is no atom of risk in connection to this business as I have worked out all modalities to complete the transaction successfully. Once the money is released to you, we shall share in the ratio of 50% for me, 50% for you as your benefit. Reply via my private email: bufaramalgo@gmail.com for further clarification. Please be kind to get back to me if you are not interested so that I can further my search for another partner.

BEST REGARDS,
FROM: RAMON HIDALGO

<font color= "#419514"> Considera el medio ambiente antes de imprimir este correo </font>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<font color= "#4B76F6" >AVISO DE CONFIDENCIALIDAD Y ALCANCE LEGAL </font>
<br>
<br>
<font color= "#727571">Este correo electrónico es confidencial y para uso exclusivo de la(s) persona(s) a quien(es) se dirige. Si el lector de esta transmisión electrónica no es el destinatario, se le notifica que cualquier distribución o copia de la misma está estrictamente prohibida. Si ha recibido este correo por error le solicitamos notificar inmediatamente a la persona que lo envió y borrarlo definitivamente de su sistema.
<br>
<br>
Los correos electrónicos no son necesariamente seguros, por lo que el remitente no será responsable en ningún momento por los cambios que se sufra en su transferencia. Aún cuando se hayan revisado los archivos adjuntos existe siempre la posibilidad de que puedan contener virus o códigos maliciosos que dañen los sistemas del destinatario, por lo que tampoco se asume ninguna responsabilidad en caso de mutaciones en su transferencia y será siempre necesario revisarlos antes de abrirlos.
<br>
<br>
Las opiniones expresadas en este correo electrónico deberá n ser confirmadas por escrito y firmadas por el remitente para tener validez legal, por lo que el correo electrónico no es el medio apropiado para emitir opiniones o recomendaciones formales.
</font>

Anti-fraud resources: