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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "VETERCAM S.A." <vetercam@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 May 2016 10:11:22 +0100
Subject: Kindly reply

Hello Friend,

I am aware that this letter has come to you as a surprise as we have not
met before or handled any business deal in the past. Nevertheless,I have
contacted you with genuine intentions and I hope I can trust you with this
Inheritance opportunity which I explain below.

My name is Mr. Howard Taylor, an account manager with SGB Trust Bank. I
retrieved your contact address in my search for the next of kin to a
deceased customer of our bank Mr Roland Travor, a citizen of your country,
who lived and died in London from Cardiac Arrest in the year 2005.
Unfortunately this customer died intestate leaving his bank account with an
open beneficiary status. All efforts made by our bank to locate his
relatives have been unsuccessful so I decided to write you as I have
monitored this account in the bank for almost 10 years now and no one has
come forth with any claim. I would like to present you to our bank as his
next of kin to claim this dormant account worth $6.9 Million USD (Six
Million Nine Hundred Thousand US Dollars).

You will apply to the bank as an extended relative to the deceased customer
while I work from the inside to make sure all needed information and
evidences are provided to you to back up your claim.The account has an open
beneficiary status that is why I have contacted you to come forth and claim
the funds as the next of kin and beneficiary. Since he is from your country
and you both share the same last name, it easy for you to become his
official next of kin. If we do not make claim to the funds now, the funds
would be reverted back to the system as unclaimed estate at the expiration
of a 10 year dormancy period as approved.

I assure you that this transaction would be handled under due inheritance
procedures and every necessary legitimate arrangement will be put in place
to make you the real beneficiary of the inheritance funds. It also requires
all confidentiality at this stage and I believe that you are ready to keep
this absolutely discreet until you are able to claim the funds from the
bank. Once the funds are released to you, it will be shared between the two
us.

Please send your response to my personal email: ( howardt667@gmail.com )
indicating readiness to proceed with this
transaction and I would give you more details, and we shall discuss more
details as well as the procedure to achieve a successful completion. This
is an opportunity of a lifetime and people achieve it everyday.

I await your response

Sincerely,
M. Howard Taylor
Email:howardt667@gmail.com

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