419 scam: "Barr. Karen Wooddell" <felixadams173@gmail.com> Private Letter.

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge deposit" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.

Fraud email example:

From: "Barr. Karen Wooddell" <felixadams173@gmail.com>
Reply-To: dljchambers@legislator.com
Date: Fri, 3 Feb 2017 14:42:37 +0000
Subject: Private Letter.

Dear Friend,
I am Karen Wooddell,a Solicitor and the Personal attorney to Mr. Hoel
Paul Edouard,a national of France,who died in a Plane crash on Monday
2nd September 1998 GMT 14:22 UK while they were flying from New York
to Geneva. You can see the news or report on the below site.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9809/swissair.victims.list/index.html

My client his wife and three children lost their lives on that plane
crash.Since then,I have made several inquiries to the embassy to
locate any of my clients extended relatives,this has proved
unsuccessful. After several unsuccessful attempts,I decided to trace
his relatives over the internet,so as to locate any member of his
family but to no avail.

I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money that belonged
to my late client before they get confiscated or declared as
serviceable by the bank where this huge deposit were lodged.
Particularly, the Bank where the deceased had an account valued at
about US$37 Million Dollars,has issued me a notice to provide the next
of kin or have the account confiscated within the next ten official
working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 3
years now therefore,I have decided to seek your consent to present you
as the next of kin of the deceased, so that the proceeds of this
account valued at US$37 Million Dollars,can be paid to you and then
you and me can share the money 50% to me and 45% to you,while 5% will
be mapped out for any expenses during the process or tax as your
government may require. I have the certificate of deposit that can be
used to back up any claim we may make.All I require is your honest
cooperation to enable us see the deal through.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please get in touch
with me strictly via email to enable us discuss further.

Best regards.
Barrister Karen Wooddell.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam