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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: George Stravridise <stravgeorge51@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2016 14:54:40 +0100
Subject: Mutual Business Proposal

Good day to you, I guess this might sound strange to you receiving an email
from on unknown person. My name is Mr. George Stavridise. I am a banker and
citizen of Ghana. I write to contact you for a very important and
confidential business transaction which I believe will benefit both of us
after completion. I am contacting you after a careful thought that you
might be capable of handling this top business transaction which i am
revealing to you now.

In 2011, A customer, an international businessman made a fixed deposit for
36 months, valued at US$12.5 Million with my bank. I was his account
officer. The maturity date for this deposit contract was 16th of September
2014.

Since the last quarter of 2014 until today, no one has come or inquired
about the deposit. As the account officer, i have tried severally to reach
the contact address he left to ascertain if he will roll over the deposit
or have the contract sum withdrawn but the news i got was sad and
devastating. The said customer was among the death victims in the 17 July
2014 Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash in Ukraine. The deposit document
which the bank has, has no beneficiary or next of kin in it which prompted
my contacting you.

Therefore, I am seeking your co-operation to present you as his business
partner and the beneficiary of the fund since no one was named as the next
of kin or the beneficiary. With this arrangement, the bank will pay the
money to you. All you need to do is to indicate your interest and we will
take it from there. Arrangement is in place to immediately slot in your
details once received to the bank information network data to reflect you
as the next of kin. If you are interested and willing to handle this deal,
I intend that you retain 45% of the funds while 50% shall be for me. At
completion, i will take my leave to join you in your country for my share.
The remaining 5% will be for any expenses that might come up at the course
of the transfer. More details will be revealed to you in our next
correspondence.

Note: The deposit certification of the fund and the statement of the
account will be sent to you as soon as you indicate your interest. Please
keep this proposal as a top secret or delete it if you are not interested
at all. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best Regards,
George Stravridise

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