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: chris Webbs <chriswebbs52@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2015 07:31:10 +0200
Subject: Business Proposal


Dear Friend.

I am Mr Christopher Webb, a seasoned banker with Korea Development
Bank here in London and I wish to request for your assistance in a
deal that involves £7.2M (Seven million, Two Hundred Thousand Great
British pounds sterling) with our Bank. This deal by virtue of its
nature must be utterly confidential and top secret. Though I know that
a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and
worried, but I am assuring you that this will be done under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect both of us from any breach of
the law. I came to know you in my private search for a reliable and
reputable Business Person/individual that can handle this confidential
deal with me, which required maximum confidence and trust from both
sides.

MY PROPOSITION;

I am an account officer to one of the dormant accounts with our bank
that belong to one of our deceased customer that was into several
business here in London before his death along with his wife in an air
crash. Before their untimely death our customer deposited the Sum of
£7.2M (Seven million, Two Hundred Thousand Great British pounds
sterling) with our bank here in London.

During the bank audit exercise, it was discovered that a lot of
accounts has been dormant as an unclaimed credit balance, hence our
management decided during the current re-capitalization in our banking
sector, to phase out all accounts that has been dormant. I being the
account officer to our late customer, I have made several inquiries to
his high commission to locate our customer extended relatives, but all
my efforts proved abortive, I then decided to trace his relatives or
family member over the internet, and hence I found you as my instinct
convinces me that you will be a trustworthy and honest business
partner and I decided to contact you to assist me in repatriating late
customer deposit before it got confiscated or declared unserviceable
by our bank, Korea Development Bank here in London.

I therefore wish to request for your assistance and permission to
present you as the appointed next of kin to our late customer so that
the £7.2M (Seven million, Two Hundred Thousand Great British pounds
sterling) can be released and paid into your account as the
beneficiary. Be informed that this transaction is risk free otherwise
I will not contact you because it is against our bank policy. Please
get in touch with me immediately if you are interested to assist me by
furnishing me with the following information;


1. Your full names

2. Your full address

3. Direct Telephone numbers

Looking forward to your prompt response.

Yours Sincerely,
Chris Webb

Anti-fraud resources: