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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: "Barrister Ken & Co" <barristerkenchamber@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2023 03:35:27 +0800
Subject: Is He Related To You?

Dear Sir/Ma,

Firstly, not to cause you embarrassment, I am a top management executive to
the named GERALD WELSH who died in an air crash along with his wife on the
31st October 1999 in an Egyptian airline Boeing 990 with other passengers
on board. You can confirm this fact from the website which was aired by the
BBC WORLD NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm

Since his death, none of his relations or persons have come forward to lay
claims to his funds as next-of-kin, and on my own i have made concerted
effort to locate any of his relatives but all prove abortive, which makes
me to believe that maybe nobody of his knows that he was operating this
foreign account with and Insurance broking firm here in United Kingdom.
Based on the ethics and policies of the Deposit holding firm, these funds
will be declared unclaimed funds and taken to the treasury of the bank as
capital base of the bank, because already the account has been tagged
dormant because it has exceeded the normal functional number of years.

In spite of the above please do bear in mind that l have made several
inquiries with his country's embassies to locate any of my clients extended
relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several
unsuccessful attempts, I decided to contact you with this business
partnership proposal. I have contacted you to assist in repatriating a huge
amount of money left behind by my client before they get confiscated or
declared unserviceable by the Finance/Security Company where this huge
deposit was lodged.

The deceased had a deposit valued presently at $30.5million (Thirty
Million, Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) and the Company has
issued me a notice to provide his next of kin or Beneficiary by Will
otherwise have the account confiscated within the next sixty official
working days. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for
years now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin / Will
Beneficiary to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at
$30.5 Million US dollars can be paid to you. This will be disbursed or
shared in these percentages, 60% to me and 40% to you.

I have all necessary information that can be used to back up any claim we
may make. All I require is your honest Co-operation, Confidentiality and
Trust to enable us see this transaction through. I guarantee you that this
will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from
any breach of the law. PLEASE DO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME URGENTLY.

And please provide me the following: This is to enable me commence
immediate preparation of all legal documents that will back up our claim.

1. Full Name :
2. Your Telephone Number and Fax Number
3. Your Contact Address.

Your urgent response will be highly anticipated and appreciated.

Best regards,

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