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 FRED WOOD" <wfred3333@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fredwood792@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2015 19:08:59 -0600
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU




My Dear,

Please kindly read through this letter and get back to me soon. I am Mr.
Fred Wood, Branch Manager of Barclay Bank Uk , London. I made up my mind
with trust to contact you for an urgent and very confidential business.
On the 7th of July 2012, a foreign fiber optics consultant/contractor,
Engineer. Michael Eerlewein made a numbered time (Fixed)Deposit for twelve
calendar months, valued at US$5,800,000.00(Five Million eight hundred
thousand United states dollars) in my branch. Upon maturity, I sent a
routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply. After a
month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his contract
employers, He died from a ghastly motor accident with his wife and only
daughter.

On further investigation, I found out that he died without making a WILL,
and all attempts to trace his next of kin was fruitless. I therefore made
further investigation and discovered that he did not declare any next of
kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank Deposit
paper work in my Bank. This sum of $5,800,000.00 is still sitting in my
Bank and the interest is being rolled over with the principal sum at the
end of each year. No one will ever come forward to claim it. At the
expiration of 5 (five) years, the money will be reverted to the bank
reserve account if no body applies to claim this fund.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand
in as the next of kin to him since you have the same last name with him so
that the fruits of this Man's labor will go in vain. This is simple as
long am here to direct and provide you with every information required.
There is no risk at all as all the paper work for this transaction will be
done by the Attorney and my position as the Branch Manager guarantees the
successful execution of this transaction. We shall employee the service of
an Attorney for drafting and notarization of the WILL and to obtain the
necessary documents and letter of probate/administration in your favor for
the transfer. If you are interested, please reply immediately .

Upon your response, I shall then provide you with more details and
relevant documents that will help you understand the transaction. We shall
be sharing the fund at equal Ratio. All i want from you is honest and
trustworthy. Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured
that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us because I
shall require your assistance to invest my share in your country.

Regards.
Mr. Fred Wood,

Anti-fraud resources: