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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: =?UTF-8?B?QmFycmlzdGVyIEZyYW5rIEJvZWdl?= <a.vergara@speedy.com.ar>
Date:
Subject:

Hello Dear,

Good Morning.I am Barrister Frank Boege, A s= olicitor at law, personal attorney to Late Mr. Alex who Used to work with S= hell Development Company in Benin. Here in after shall be referred to as my= client. On the 21st of April 2011,my client, his wife and their only daugh= ter were involved in a ghastly car accident along Portnovo express road.All= occupants of the vehicle unfortunately lost their lives.

Since then= I have made several inquiries  to locate any of my clients extended r= elatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several unsuccessf= ul attempts, In my disparate search for urgent assistance, I decided to tra= ck his last name To locate any member of his family hence I contacted you. = I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the fund valued at USD$6.5 M= illion left behind by my client before it get confiscated or declared unser= viceable by the (BANK) here in Benin, where this huge amount were deposited= .

And now the bank has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin= or have his account confiscated within the next Few weeks. Since I have be= en unsuccessful in locating the relatives for unto 6 years now, I seek the = consent to present you as the next of kin to the deceased since you have th= e same last names, so that the proceeds of this account can be paid to you.=

Therefore, on receipt of your positive response, we shall then disc= uss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer. I have all necessary inf= ormation and legal documents needed to back  you up for the claim.
=
All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this= transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under legitima= te arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. On your in= terest ,
Let me hear from you along your details such as follows:
Address: ............................
Telephone Numbers:..............<= br>
Best Regards.

Barrister Frank Boege
of KB Chambers Benin


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