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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: "Eric Clarke" <iopolaki@mail.velia.net>
Reply-To: eric.clark56@protonmail.com
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 2020 15:32:11 -0700
Subject: Re: Expression of interest

Dear Smith,

It gives me a great deal of pleasure to write you this mail and even when it might come to you as a surprise, I hope you find it of interest.

Let me first introduce myself.

I am Eric Clarke, I was the personal attorney to the late Mr. Allen G. Smith, a US national who was owned some fishing boats and used to work with an oil servicing company after which was referred to as my client.

Mr. Allen G. SMith 58 years of age made a fixed deposit of fund Valued at US$19,500,000 (Nineteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only) with the capital bank in London but unfortunately lost his life in an Egyptian charter plane Boeing 737 which crashed into the Red Sea early on January 3, 2004 shortly after taking off from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing all the 135 passengers and 13 crew members aboard. You can verify this by clicking on this website to read the story: (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/148-perish-in-egyptian-plane-crash/) or (http://archive.boston.com/news/world/articles/2004/01/05/french_remember_133_victims_who_died_in_egypt_plane_crash/)

My late client left no clear beneficiary as Next of Kin except some vital documents related to the deposit which are still in my possession, he died in that ill-fated crash alongside his entire family, wife, all his children and even his only brother Daniel.

Recently, the governing body of the capital bank in London contacted me on this matter in my capacity as his attorney requesting that I should notify the next of kin of my late client to claim the funds and I am yet to provide the Next of Kin to make claims to the Fund. I know that my client had no living next of kin but I went ahead and made several inquiries to his embassy to locate any of my late clients extended relatives but this has proved unsuccessful.

Under a clear and legitimate agreement with you, I seek your consent to present you as the fund beneficiary as you bear same surname so that my late client's fund will not be confiscated by the U.K government. You and I can invest the money after the capital bank remits them into your local bank account. You will be entitled to 50% of the total fund/investment for your role as the beneficiary of my late client and 40% for me, while 10% will be donated to any charity organization of our choice.

Be informed that there is no risk involved as all necessary legal document which will be used to back you up as the legal beneficiary and next of kin of my late client will be legally procured by me in my position as my late clients known attorney. All I require is your sincerity, honesty, co-operation and utmost good faith to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Kindly, get in touch with me on my e-mail to discuss further. You should also email your telephone number so that I can call you.

Finally, do not forget that a transaction of this magnitude require utmost confidentiality and sincerity.

Leave me an E-mail at <eric.clark56@protonmail.com>

I look forward to your urgent response.

Regards,
Eric Clarke

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