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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: "Irwin Mitchell, Esq" <irwinmitchell17@yandex.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2015 11:50:11 +0530
Subject: Re: Information



--
Let me start off by introducing myself to you. I am Barrister Irwin
Mitchell Esq from Irwin Mitchell LLP Legal advocates here in London,
United Kingdom. I have been working as a solicitor here for over 20
years. I am the attorney for the son of former Libyan leader Col
Muammar Gaddafi. I am sure you must have heard or read about the
revolution in Libya in 2011, as you can see on the following links:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/feb/27/gaddafi-family-assets-frozen-queen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WCp5rxNa1k

Now, to the purpose of writing to you. As a trusted aid and personal
lawyer to the son of the Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, we have
secured a total of Four Hundred and Fifty Million United States dollars
from excess crude oil account, and this fund was pulled out in the heat
of the crises rocking Libya. The said fund was deposited as a trust fund
in one of the big banks in United Kingdom, which I will let you know in
due cause.

Now that Col. Gaddafi is long dead and his regime has come to an end, I
have now received instruction from my client, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi,
the second son of Col. Gaddafi, to look for a TRUSTED partner to secure
the money from the bank’s vault. This will enable him have something
substantial to fall back on if the inevitable happens.

We are ready to let you have 30% of the total sum, while I will have 10%
and 60 % will be kept by you for my client or even invested on my
client’s behalf, pending when things stabilize. I have the documentation
necessary in facilitating transfer of the fund from the said UK-based
bank.

Please, if you are interested in this transaction, urgently respond (via
email address: irwinmitchell17@yandex.com) so that I can brief you in
detail. If you, however, are not interested, kindly treat this email as
it never come to you.

This is confidential and must not be discussed with a third party or
unauthorized person(s). Looking forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Irwin Mitchell, Esq

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