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.Paul Southgate." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <paulsouthgateuk@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2016 17:11:33 -0500
Subject: PLEASE READ AND GET BACK TO ME!!

My name is Mr. Paul Southgate ; I am a senior banker in a bank here in
the United Kingdom .
 
I am contacting you for a business transfer of a huge sum of money
from a deceased account. Though know that a transaction of this
magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am
assuring you that every document that will bring about the success of
this transaction will be provided by an attorney here in London , and
all will be well at the end of the day.
 
I decided to contact you due to the urgency of this transaction. The
deceased person who died  Neal Walker died in air crash along with his
wife on the 31st October 1999 in an Egyptian airline 990 with other
passengers on board was an American Oil consultant/contractor with the
Chinese Solid Minerals Corporation. You can confirm his death from the
website below which was published by BBC WORLD
NEWS.WEBSITE.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm
 
Since his death, none of his next-of-kin are alive to make claims for
this money as his heir, because they all died in the same accident
himself and his wife (May their soul rest in peace). We cannot release
the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the
next-of-kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.
Upon this discovery, I now seek your permission to stand as a next of
kin to the deceased, as all documentations will be carefully worked to
make you the beneficiary to the funds #6,100 000 00 GBP (Six million,
one hundred thousand Great British pounds sterling) which will be
released in your favor as the next of kin, Because after twenty years
the money will be called back to the bank bond treasury as unclaimed
bills and the money shared amongst the directors of the bank. So it is
on this note I decided to seek for whom his name shall be used as the
next of kin/beneficiary to this funds rather than allow the bank
directors to share this money amongst them at the end of the year. It
may interest you to know that we have secured from the probate an
order of mandamus to locate any of the deceased beneficiaries.
Please acknowledge receipt of this message in acceptance of our mutual
business endeavor by furnishing me with the following information if
you are interested.
1. Full names and address,
2. Telephone and fax Number.
3. Occupation
4. A scan copy of your international passport or driver’s license.
 
For our personal contact and mutual trust in each other I shall be
compensating you with 50% of the above amount on final conclusion of
this project for your assistance, the balance 50% shall be for me,
because I intend to retire after the conclusion of this transaction.
If this proposal is acceptable by you, please endeavor to contact me
immediately. Do not take undue advantage of the trust I have bestowed
in you, I await your urgent mail now to my private email ID
(paulsouthgateuk@gmail.com)
Best Regards,
 
Mr.Paul Southgate.

Anti-fraud resources: