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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: MERCURY FINANCE BANK <mercuryfinancebank@gmail.com>
Reply-To: drjoe_ifanyi@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 2 Jun 2020 09:51:48 -0700
Subject: I NEED YOUR COOPERATION

DR JOSEPH ANYI (B.sc; P.hd)
Phone: +234-1-8139708.

Hello,
My Name is Joseph Anyi, a chartered accountant with the Global Finance
Bank [a Union Bank Plc afiliate] and the account officer to late Engr
(Roy ), a National of your Country who was a contractor with the
DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM RESOURCES VICTORIA ISLAND, LAGOS.On January
31st, 2000 , my client, his wife, and two children were involved in a
crash with the Kenya Airways flight with registration number 5Y-BEN
which departed Nairobi to destination Lagos

All the family died in this fatal air crash on same January 31st.
Since then I have made several inquiries to your embassy to locate any
of my client's extended Relatives, which proved unsuccessful. After
these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his last name
over the Internet, to locate any member of his family, hence I
contacted you.
I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and property
left behind by my client before they get confiscated or declared
unserviceable by the bank where some huge deposits were lodged,
particularly the GLOBAL FINAMCE BANK NIG. PLC. The deceased had an
account valued at ($17million U.S Dollars) in this bank.

However, as the ACCOUNTS MANAGER to the deceased, the bank has issued
me a notice to provide the next of kin or have the account
confiscated. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives
for some time now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of
kin of the deceased, since you have the same last name.
With your cooperation therefore, the proceeds of this account valued
at ($17 million US Dollars) can be paid to you and then you and I can
share the money in the ratio of 45% to me and 45% to you, 5% for any
charity organization of your choice, in your country, while 5% will be
for unforeseen expenses we might incur in this transaction.

An attorney will be contracted to help us revalidate and notarize all
the necessary legal documents that will be used to back up our claims.
All I need is your honest cooperation to enable us see this deal
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you and I from any breach of the law. I
will appreciate some measure of confidentiality till we finish the
transaction, because of my position in the bank.

Yours Sincerely,
Joseph Anyi

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