joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Gerhard Esq" <info@lawfirm.com>
Reply-To: michaesm@163.com
Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2020 06:07:57 +0400
Subject: LET US ACHIEVE THIS TOGETHER

Good Day

I hope this message finds you and your family in good health. I am Barr.
Gerhard, a Germany based Lawyer. I got your contact through your local
directory while looking for someone we can jointly claim an inheritance
together and share the benefit.

One of my client, an expatriate engineer who worked with a Construction &
Civil Engineering Company (BAUER Group) here in Germany for Sixteen years
died with his family in a plane crash in 2015. Before his death, he
deposited a total sum of €6,800,000 (Six million eight hundred thousand
euros ) with a bank here in Europe. Recently, the Bank contacted me
requesting that I should notify the next of kin of my late client or
relative to claim this funds or else the bank account will be confiscated
and the money diverted to the treasury of the bank as unclaimed funds. So
far, all my efforts to get hold of someone related to my client were
fruitless.

In this regard, I want to introduce you to the Bank as the only maternal
relative entitled to claim this fund. In this way, the fund will be
transferred to you. I will use my position as his lawyer to put your name
as the next of kin to my client since his immediate family members are no
more. I have all the documents concerning the deposit with me and I shall
also procure other legal documents that will make our claim authentic and
facilitate the release of fund to you as the true and only surviving
maternal relative to my late client.

You and I can share this money, you will be entitled to 50% of the total
funds for your role, while the balance 50% will be for me. Please know
that there is no risk involved because everything will be done under a
clear and legitimate process.

All I require is your sincerity, honesty, co-operation and utmost good
faith to enable us see this deal through. I guarantee that the process
will be executed transparently and satisfactorily.

We can both use this money to better the lives of our family instead of
been confiscated by the Bank. In approximately two weeks the transfer will
be completed if we dedicate our time to it.

If you are interested, send me the following details through my email id

1. Your Name in Full:
2. Your Address:
3. Your Occupation:
4. Mobile number:
5. Your Age:
6. Your Gender:

However, if you are not interested kindly delete this message from your
mailbox without disclosing it to anybody but if you wish to achieve this
goal with me, please send me the above information for further
communication and explanations.

Best regards

Gerhard

Anti-fraud resources: