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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: STEVE BRUCE <agroflexltd@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2018 03:39:21 -0700
Subject: RE INVESTMENT

Attn:Hello
From Mr. Steve Bruce.

I believed my letter will meet you in good health and your finest mood
today; my name is Mr.Steve Bruce,Private Auditor General with TD TRUST
GROUP BANK CANADA. I decided to seek a confidential co-operation with
you in the execution of the deal described here-under for our mutual
benefit and urge you to keep it a top secret because of the nature of
the transaction.

During the auditing of bank accounts at Bank , I discovered an
abandoned and unclaimed fund amounting to USD$26.400.000 .00 (Twenty
six million Four hundred thousand United States Dollars) in an account
that belongs to one of our deceased foreign customer, late Mr.
Paul-Louis Halley.

Paul-Louis Halley was a French businessman who part-founded the retail
company Promodès, which later merged with Carrefour. Much of his
fortune came from his 11% stakeholding in Carrefour. He was estimated
to have a fortune of $2.2bn, putting him at 104th on the Forbes
World's Richest People list in 2003. He died in a plane crash on the
6th day of December 2003.Paul-Louis Halley founded the retail company
Promodès in 1961, along with his father and brother. The company
merged with Carrefour in 1999, with Halley as the principal
shareholder.Please visit this wikipedia page below for more
information about Mr. Paul Louis
Halley:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul-Louis_Halley.

After going through his personal file in my bank, I discovered that he
died without any specific next of kin to these funds, such I make this
contact seeking your consent to present you as the next of kin/ heir
to the deceased so that the proceeds of this bank account valued at
USD$26.4 Million will be released to you as the beneficiary, which
will be shared in percentage ratio of 60: 40 between me and you
respectively. All I request of you is your utmost sincere
co-operation; trust and maximum confidentiality to achieve this deal
successfully. I have carefully worked out the modalities for execution
of this transaction under a legitimate arrangement to protect you from
any breach of the law both in your country and here and beyond,
during and after the transfer of the fund to your bank account any
country of your choice.

Please i expect your prompt response so that i will enter into bank
database as to appear in the bank system that you are the named next
of kin /heir beneficiary of the fund, and then I will guide your
communication with Bank via which the funds will be released to you,
please reply to my private e-mail: (stevebruce07@gmail.com).for proper
confidential and security reasons.

Thanks in appreciation and anticipation of your urgent response.

Best regards,
Mr.Steve Bruce.
Private Auditor General

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