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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: George Harold <chunnamani@gmail.com>
Reply-To: georgeharold479@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 2 Apr 2018 19:50:48 -0600
Subject: You have the "KEY" to the success of this business.

Dear Sir,

My name is George Harold, a banker here in London, United Kingdom; I
got your contact information while searching for a last name similar
to a late customer's name, a business man based in Yemen, who came to
United Kingdom four years ago to make arrangements to move over to
United Kingdom with his family because of the trouble in Yemen.
However, he lost his life in Yemen to the War in Yemen in 2015 when
he went back for his wife and two children. He was unfortunately
killed with members of his family a little over three years ago.

When he came to UK in 2014, he made a 12 month Fixed Term Deposit
(FTD) in our bank worth £3.8 Million to give him room for adequate
settling down when he and his family will arrive United Kingdom.

As the CRM to the late client, the bank has mandated me to present the
next beneficiary to the fund (heir/inheritor) to make the claims or
the fund will be confiscated and taken to the treasury as unclaimed.

However, the circumstances and urgency of this claim have prompted me
to send you this unsolicited email, which I humbly apologize. Can I
present you as the beneficiary to the fund of my late client? Since
you are bearing the same surname with him?

Therefore on this brief notice, kindly get back to me for more
details. Hence, this is purely a confidential matter, and you have
the major "key" to the success of the business. The questions begging
for answers are:

(1) Can you be trusted with £3.8 million ( Three million, eight
hundred thousand British pounds) only if I work for it to be
transferred to you?
(2) Do you have the capacity to receive and safeguard the fund without
any issues?
(3) Will you be willing to follow my instructions and directives?

Now, if your answers to the above questions are in the affirmative
then below is what it is all about:

(a) The sum above (£3,800,000.00) is domiciled in an account in my
bank. I happened to be the relationship manager as at the time of
opening the account in 2014.

(b) The account is now dormant and it entered into dormancy on January 8, 2016.

(c) The account is a special account and has no Next of Kin
beneficiary as at the time of opening.

(d) The account beneficiary/owner is late like I wrote earlier. He
died in 2015 according to what I am able to find out.

(e) You are therefore being contacted by this mail to be legally
nominated as "Next of Kin" (an inheritor) to the late client's
account since he did not nominate a next of kin or inheritor to his
account.

(f) You have the "KEY" that is most valuable to the success of this
pursuit (YOUR LAST NAME or SURNAME). Since you have a similar last
name to late account beneficiary, it will be most credible to
establish you as the next of kin/beneficiary.

(g) This won't take much time and it will be executed in the most
legitimate arrangement possible to avert any britch of the law.

(h) When the fund is transferred to your account, your share will be
50% of the fund, You will keep aside 40% for me and 10% will be used
to defray our expenses (if any).

(i) If you are in agreement with the above, please reply me ASAP via
georgharold479@gmail.com

(j) I will provide you with the following; (a) a telephone number to
reach me, (b) the name of my bank name and (c) other relevant
information as soon as I confirm your seriousness to execute this
project with me.

(k) It can be transferred to you via bank to bank or Certified bank draft.

God bless you as I look forward to hearing from you,

Regards,
George Harold

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