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: "Mark Evans" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrkevansESQ@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:14:25 +0100
Subject: Trust

Dear Sir/Madam,

This email must come to you as a surprise, but I believe that it takes just a day for people to meet and become great friends and business partners. This is a personal and private letter directed to you and I request that it be treated as such.

My name is Mark Evans, I was the personal Attorney /sole executor to the late Eng. Wayne Larson, who was originally from the United States of America and hereafter referred to as 'My late Client'. He was an oil magnate here in The United Kingdom but died in a car crash along with his immediate family on the 4th of Oct 2003. Since his death, I have tried locating his extended relatives whom shall be claimant / beneficiary of his abandoned monetary deposit and all such efforts have been to no avail. I also tried going through the Embassy of Iceland here in London, and that also hit a brick wall.

A week ago, I received a letter suggesting a proceeding for confiscation of this fund in line with existing laws by the bank in which he had a fixed deposit in the sum of ?10,800,000.00 GBP (Ten Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds) if a Next of Kin does not show up to claim the fund by the end of this year. On this note I decided to search for a credible and trustworthy Person to act as his Next of Kin.

I am therefore contacting you that you may file an application with the "Trustee" Bank in the capacity as an extended Family member so as to enable you put up claim for this deposit. Do note that I will be there to guide you every step of the way. I propose that 40% of the total fund will accrue to you at the conclusion of this deal, while I retain the balance 60%.

To facilitate the process of immediate transfer of this fund to your designated bank account, you need firstly signify your interest by contacting me via e-mail, and then I will appraise you with complete details as soon as I obtain your confidence. Rest assured that this proposal is hitch-free and you need not entertain any fears as all procedures will be within the confines of the law. Also note that successful transfer of the Fund to your nominated account can be achieved within 14 Banking days of signifying your interest. Like I said, I require only a solemn confidentiality on this.

Please, include your Private and confidential Phone number (preferably Mobile) in your reply.

SPECIAL NOTE: FORWARD YOUR RESPONSE TO mrkevansESQ@gmail.com
Best regards,
Mark Evans
Tel: +44-702-407-1689

Anti-fraud resources: