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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: "Mr. Michael Barrow" <micheal10barrow@gmail.com>
Reply-To: michealbarrow@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 02 May 2017 14:24:24 -0700
Subject: Brexit call for your urgent partnership

Michael Barrow
Head of Legal Department ,
Premier Oil plc,
23 Lower Belgrave Street London SW1W 0NR England,
United Kingdom.

Good day,
I am Barrister Michael Barrow the head of legal Department Premier Oil PLC here in United Kingdom. I am writing you from my unofficial email to share this confidential information with you and I believe you should accord it the confidence it deserves this is important to me due to the ethics of my profession.

On the 31st of January 2000, a foreign contractor was awarded a contract value of £15,500:00 (Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds) by Premier Oil PLC, on the supply of heavy equipment and other drilling equipment, the contract was dully completed and payment made into the contractor’s local bank account here in United Kingdom, with the sudden death of this contractor/director here in United Kingdom due to heart related issues, this payment has been lying unclaimed in this bank account the management of this bank has expected the relative or next of kin of this contractor/director to lay claim on this fund but this has not been since this long years.
With the recent instructions from the United Kingdom Government due to the Brexit (departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union) to audit and pay off all foreign contractor and audit banks, Presently, with the implementation of the Brexit (final pull out of United Kingdom from European Union), the Bank where the deceased has this deposit issued a notice to my organization to provide the next-of-kin to this contractor to receive its benefit or have the account confiscated, so I have contacted you to assist me in repatriating this benefit left behind by this late contract before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank.
I have made several enquiries to locate any of this contractor/director extended relatives but this proved unsuccessful. After all these several unsuccessful attempts, since it's not compulsory that the next-of-kin must be a blood relation to the deceased, in accordance with the law of United Kingdom, hence I contacted you to stand as my foreign trustee and I will guide you on the legal steps involved to stand as the next of kin to the late director and the transfer of this fund into your nominated bank account pending my arrival there in your country for sharing and utilization between us as partners.
On the establishment of ownership in your favor as next of kin or business associate and the transfer of this fund into your nominated bank account I have resolved the sharing as thus:-
50% for me as the initiator, 40% for you as my foreign trustee and partner, 5% for any orphanage home as appreciation to nature and 5% for reimbursement of any expenses that we may incur in the legal actualization of this deal.
I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
In the actualization process you should forward the following to my email: michealbarrow@hotmail.com
Your Full Name:
Your full contact Address:
Mobile/Cell Phone Number:
Brief information on your profile this should include, Age, Marital status and nature of Job.
Your prompt response is highly imperative.
Yours sincerely,
Michael Barrow.

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