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: "LARISA SOSNITSKAYA" <lsosnitskaya09@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2005 02:32:31 +0000
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL FROM LARISA

DEAR FRIEND,

MY NAME IS MRS.LARISA SOSNITSKAYA, PERSONAL SECRETARY TO MR.BORIS MIKHAIL
KHODORKOVSKY,THE ARRESTED CHAIRMAN/CEO OF YUKOS OIL AND BANK MENATEP
SPB IN RUSSIA WHO IS PRESENTLY IN JAIL. I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS OF A LARGE
AMOUNT OF FUNDS WHICH HE HANDED OVER TO ME BEFORE HE WAS DETAINED AND
TRIED IN RUSSIA FOR FINANCING POLITICAL PARTIES (THE UNION OF RIGHT
FORCES, LED BY BORIS NEMTSOV AND YABLOKO, A LIBERAL/SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC
PARTY LED BY GREGOR YAVLINSKY) OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MR.VLADMIR
PUTIN,THE PRESIDENT THEREBY LEADING TO THE FREEZING OF HIS FINANCES AND
ASSETS.

AFTER SEARCHING THROUGH THE BOOKS OF YOUR COUNTRY'S CHAMBERS OF
COMMERCE AND INDUSTRIES HERE IN RUSSIA I AM CONTACTING YOU TO ASSIST ME
TO RE-PROFILE THE FUNDS AND EQUALLY INVEST SAME ON HIS BEHALF. THE
TOTAL AMOUNT OF FUNDS TO BE RE-PROFILLED IS FORTY SIX
MILLIONDOLLARS(USD$46,000,000.00) AND YOU WILL BE PAID 20% FOR YOUR
MANAGEMENT SERVICES.

AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR ACCEPTANCE IN MY PERSONAL EMAIL ADDRESS
thus:larisa_sosnitskaya02@excite.com I WILL SEND YOU THE NECESSARY
DETAILS
AND MY IDENTIFICATION.

YOURS SINCERELY,

MRS.LARISA SOSNITSKAYA.

NOTE THAT ANY RESPONSE TO THIS EMAIL WILL NOT BE APPRECIATED OR
ANSWERED PLEASE WRITE ME VIA MY PERSONAL EMAIL ADRRESS
thus:larisa_sosnitskaya02@excite.com FOR FUTURE CORRESPONDENCE.

NB: YOU CAN READ MORE OF HIS ORDEAL FROM:
http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/03/29/58914.html
http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue261041
http://www.supportmbk.com
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mikhail-Khodorkovsky


Anti-fraud resources: