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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: khumalojeffery1@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2016 14:52:16 +0700
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE


Greetings,

I am Mr Khumalo Jeffery, Head Accounts Management Section of a
well-known Bank here in South Africa.

One of our accounts with holding balance of US$15,500,000 (Fifteen
Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) has been dormant
for some years. From my investigations and confirmations, the owner of
this account is a Hong Kong National by name Engr. Wing Chiu Lee, who
died in an automobile accident along Pretoria N1 High-Way. Since then
nobody has done anything as regards to the claiming of this money as
he has no family member that is aware of the existence of either the
account or the fund. Several attempts to trace any of his relative
were unsuccessful, and also Information from the National Immigration
office states that late Engr. Wing Chiu Lee was single on point of
entry into South Africa.

Our Financial Institution is presently and by law the custodian of the
money belonging to the deceased, whose account I am responsible for
monitoring and officiating. Since we got information about his death,
we have been expecting his next of kin or business associate to come
and claim his money because it cannot be release unless somebody
applies for it as next of kin or business associate to the deceased as
indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately no one did. It
is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this
business proposal to you and release the money to your account as the
next of kin or business associate.

The Banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money
remains dormant after eight years; the money will be transferred into
the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund. The request for your assistance
and maximum co-operation as a foreign citizen is highly needed to
release this fund. A 30% of the total sum will be allocated to you
after a successful transfer of the money into your account, and 70%
will be for me and my associates. Please note that I don't have any
asses to withdraw or claim this money because it was insured by the
deceased. I will indulge you at this point to understand that this is
privileged information and must be strictly confidential.

I have confidentially discussed this issue with some of the bank
officials and we have agreed to find a reliable foreign partner to
deal with. This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as
the fund is Legitimate and does not originate from drug or money
laundry.

On your interest, please reply as soon as possible.

Yours truly,
Mr Khumalo Jeffery
Email: khumalojeffery1@gmail.com
Call: +27710801850


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