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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: "Gilbert Wusa.K" <ludwigemma100@gmail.com>
Reply-To: infowusagikbertk@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 27 Dec 2022 21:32:56 +0000
Subject: Hello

Greetings,

My name is Mr. Gilbert Wusa, I work with a prime bank in Turkey. I would
need your consent to present you as next of kin to our late customer MR.
HEATH LIAM who died during the March 11th, 2011 Earthquake disaster in
Japan while on a business trip. He was a real estate tycoon who deposited
Twenty-Six Million Great British Pounds in our Bank. He died without any
registered next of kin as he was long divorced and had no child. I was his
account officer and have in my possession all the documents required to
present you as his beneficiary next of kin.

I contacted you due to the need to involve a foreigner because the
management of the bank cannot approve these funds for an indigenous name
hence the former owner of the fund was a foreigner and those funds can only
be approved by a foreigner who has the correct information of the account
which I would give to you later. Upon completion of the transaction, 50% of
the money will be for me, 40% for you, and 10% shall be given to two top
bank officials that will help us perfect the transaction to successful
completion.

This is real and such business goes on in Banks all over the world without
people knowing. Let us utilize this opportunity because it does not always
come. A lot of customers open private accounts with different Banks without
the knowledge of their families and when they die, such money will be lost
to the Bank forever unless someone comes to claim it. This is how a lot of
Bank Directors make so much money silently. Upon your confirmation of this
message and indicating your interest, I will furnish you with more details.

Please endeavor to provide me with the following so that we can discuss it
in detail.

1) Mobile phone numbers
2) Full name
3) Contact address and occupation
I hope to get your response as soon as possible.

Best Regards
Mr. Gilbert

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