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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: Mr William Hung <mrwillhung3@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 5 May 2016 02:25:01 -0700
Subject: Attn: Lance Niles - Confirmation Of Business Proposal, Kindly Confirm
your Interest


I wish to educate you about my business proposal to you which I believe you
will take very important as I start by introducing myself to you. My names
are Mr. William Hung, Head of Operations, Bank of China, Hong Kong and I
have been working with the bank here in the Hong Kong for many years. The
details of my business proposal and the reason why I contacted you is very
important. I am the personal account manager/adviser to Dr. Daniel Lance
Niles, who used to work with the Jardine Matheson Holdings Ltd, here in
Hong Kong. Unfortunately, on the 19th June, 2010, my client and his entire
family was involved in a car accident in Hong Kong and they all lost their
lives. Since his death I have made several inquiries to his embassy to
locate any of his extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful,
though he ones told me that he had no living relative apart from his
immediate family that was involved in the car accident in Hong Kong. With
this in mind after several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his
middle and last name through your embassy, to locate any member of his
family hence I found out that you both have the same name so I decided to
contact you.

My bank, BoC, HK, has issued me several notices to provide the Next of Kin
being that I am his personal account manager/adviser before his death. The
last notice from my bank once again came to my desk about 13 days ago. I
have been notified to provide a next of kin to claim the funds or the
account confiscated within the next few weeks. I have contacted you to
assist in repatriating the money left behind by my client before they get
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank. For the fact that I have
been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for 4-5 years though I was
privately informed by my late client that there is no living relative and
if anything goes wrong with him at anytime, I should try as much as I can
to make sure his money is not confiscated by the bank, so I seek your
consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have
the same name so that the proceeds of his account valued at $11,934,810 can
be paid to you by the bank, then we can share the money equally after you
have received the funds because I will be providing you with every first
instructions on how to go about this claims with the bank and be successful
at the end of the day.

This project will be of great benefit to us. As a matter of fact, all I
require is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal through. I
guarantee you that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect you from any breach of the law. I will send you a copy of
the deposit certificate in my next email after I receive response from you
that you can stand in as the next of kin to enable this project be
successful.

Await your response as soon as email is received.

Mr. William Hung
Head of Operations
Bank of China (Hong Kong)

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