joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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.

Fraud email example:

From: sbsaza001@workmail.co.za
Date: Tue, 06 Jan 1998 12:06:45 +0200
Subject: BUSINESS ASSISTANCE(FOUND TRANSFER)

FROM: MR.ZETH MALELE,
EMAIL: zethmalele@yahoo.com
Tel: + 27 83-210-8873


KEEP AS CONFIDENTIAL


I am a staff of bank in Africa. I will give you the name of
my bank and other important information if I receive a
positive reply from you. For security reasons I cannot
disclose my full identity to you now until I am sure of
your cooperation. I work in the operations dept where I
serve as account officer to numerous customers. One of the
customers whom I worked as his account officer was a
wealthy diamond merchant from neighboring Sierra Leone. He
lost his family in the war. He was lucky to escape alive
and came to this country with his wealth intact.
Unfortunately he died last year.

Because this man was good to me when he was alive, I took
it uponmyself to travel to his country last month, to see
if I could locate any of his close relations . On reaching
there I discovered that his only surviving uncle died a few
months back. I sponsored this trip on my own and nobody in
the bank knew I was undertaking the journey so I did not
present any official report of my findings in South Africa.

Now there are two things I could do with regards to the
dead mans money. First, as his accounts officer, I could
formally notify the bank authorities that the man is dead
and has no next of kin. In this case the money would be
forfeited to the government after some time. As a matter of
fact this is the proper thing I am supposed to do.


Another thing I can do is to arrange for someone else, a
foreigner, to act as the next of kin of the late man so
that he will claim the money. This is the option that I can
do to help anybody and myself since the money actually is
public fund due to the fact that my friend was a closelly
to the late brutal military president that looted
government treasury and that is why I have chosen to do it.
I want you to be my partner. All you would have to do is
act as the next of kin of the dead man and the whole money
in the account will be transferred to your account. As the
accounts officer to the late man, I have all the necessary
documents that you will require to claim the money in the
account.

The total money in the account is USD17 million. Your share
will be 30% which is USD5,100,000. My own share will be
69%, which is USD11,730,000. We shall keep 1% which is
USD170,000 for expenses. Reach me immediately by mail so
that I can give you further details.Also provide me your
direct tel/fax to reach you.

Yours truly,

MR.ZETH MALELE.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam