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: "WEBAIL TEAM. X" <pmarrow56@gmail.com>
Reply-To: pmarrow55@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 08:48:27 +0900
Subject: PARTENERSHIP


Dear Friend, How are you doing, I am sorry for barging into your privacy. =
I am writing this email, hoping that you will read and understand it with a=
n open mind, let me introduce myself properly, my name is Mr. Paul Marrow, =
I'm the General Manager of a front line bank here in London, I am 57 years =
and happily married to Mrs. Julian Marrow, we are blessed with two boys and=
one girl. We live at Unit 23 Nathan way, London SE 28 OBQ, United Kingdom.=
I have been searching for someone whom I can trust , so that we can pull t=
his very important deal through. There is an abandoned sum of 15 million po=
unds (15MGBP) belonging to one of our foreign customers Bill Murray , an Am=
erican citizen . He was dealing in Gold and real estate business while he l=
ived. The customer died in 2009 in a ghastly auto crash and our bank has be=
en waiting for any of the relatives to come up to claim the money, but non =
has come till this moment. The practice here is that if an account is aband=
oned and there is no claim put forward , the bank converts it to their pers=
onal use as the account will be declared unserviceable. The main reason I c=
ontacted you and asked for your assistance in this transaction is the fact =
that the bank has no justification to inherit the funds, as an insider in t=
he bank I have all the information that we may need to apply for the transf=
er, without facing any risk, if we do not claim the funds the bank will con=
fiscate the funds and make themselves richer, but we can make this claim an=
d invest the proceed together, I firmly believe that we can open up a compa=
ny through the proceeds of this transaction and create more job opportuniti=
es to better the lives of others as well as ours. I am certain the bank wil=
l oblige and release the money to you and I will be assisting in the backgr=
ound. All I need from you is your honest cooperation and assistance for us =
to make this deal successful, because I can not do it alone, I want to offi=
cially introduce you to the bank as next of kin / beneficiary to the deceas=
ed's estate, I have all the documents that the bank may require from you to=
prove that you are the next of kin / beneficiary, with your full informati=
on such as name and civil address, phone and fax numbers. I have to upload =
the information here on our bank`s database, so that nothing will stop the =
bank from transferring the funds into your account as long as you're willin=
g to follow my instructions, I am here as an insider I know what it takes t=
o perform this operation. Do not entertain any fears, this transaction is 1=
00% risk free, all I need do is to ask my lawyer to go to court here in Lon=
don to legalize all documents in my posession in your name just to protect =
you from any breech of the law. My interest in this deal, is that I intend =
to invest part of my share in your country, so I'll be with you as soon as =
the funds are transferred to your account in order to have my share, as I s=
uggest the sharing formula to be 50% for me while 45% goes to you,and 5% wi=
ll be set aside for any expenses made as we progress, I hope everything is =
ok by you Please, I would like to know what business you think we can inves=
t into in your country, as I intend to make you my managing partner until s=
uch a time that I will retire from my profession of banking and go into ful=
l time private business, which will be in about three years time, remember =
that your help is seriously needed here, as you know, the economic policy o=
f your country better than I. As you know this to be a partnership, I will =
need us to have a signed and sealed agreement, so I need the requested info=
rmation to draft our agreement as well as do the paper work involved. The i=
nformation I need are as follows. (1) Your complete residential address (2)=
A scanned copy of your international passport (3)Your direct/ mobile phone =
number (s) (4)Your Full Names Please respond now, so I can send you a draft=
agreement guiding our partnership so that you can review it and get back t=
o me for us to proceed. This transaction will be completed in the next few =
days as soon as you start by responding immediately. I will wait for your q=
uick response and I am 100% ready to give you more detailed information, th=
erefore feel very free to ask questions if there is anything you do not und=
erstand. I will send you a scanned copy of my international passport for yo=
ur records as soon as I get your reply , Finally, you must keep this transa=
ction confidential between you and I and if you think you have a more secur=
ed email address which only you can access, let me have it. Thanking you in=
advance for your good understanding and assistance. Sincerely, Paul Marrow

Anti-fraud resources: