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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Greg Tiago" <gregtiago@msn.com>
Reply-To: gregtiago@zwallet.com
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2005 15:35:21 +0000
Subject: Pls. Respond ASAP


From: Greg Tiago.
11 Elwil Centre,
14 Caledon Street,
7130, Somerset West,
Western Cape.
South Africa.

Dear Sir,

With warm heart, I offer my friendship, and reetings, and I hope this mail
meets you in good health.
However strange or surprising this contact might seem to you as we have not
met personally or had any dealings in the past, I humbly ask that you take
due consideration of its importance and the immense benefit it will be to
you and I.

After careful consideration,I resolved to contact you for your most needed
assistance in this manner. I duly apologize for infringing on your privacy
if this contact is not acceptable to you, as I make this proposal to you as
a person of integrity. I got your contacts through my personal research and
out of desperation decided to reach you through this medium.

First, I wish to introduce myself properly to you. My name is Mr Greg
Tiago,senior brother to Mr.Simon Tiago.He was on holidays in Thailand with
his wife and two daughters when the Tsunami struck and swept them and others
away on the 26th of December 2004.

Not quite long ago, a private securities firm in Europe contacted me as Next
of kin to come forth with the Certificate of Deposit and claim a safety
deposit my brother has in their vault in his name.

I went through his library collection and to my astonishment, I discovered a
Certificate of Deposit for the safety deposit with this private securities
firm and other documents relating to the safety deposit.

The safety deposit, which is in trunks containing the sum of $18,000,000.00
which was generated from cash payments from his business associates in
diamond trade from Antwerp, Belgium. Though I knew my late brother was in
the diamond business, I did not have the knowledge that he moved funds in
cash. This has came as a shock to me and I have decided to have this
fund invested immediately in commercial and residential properties abroad as
well as profitable ventures, as I cannot hold such a huge amount in our
name, hence I sincerely propose to you to render your most needed assistance
in this regard.

If you agree to render your assistance, your role in this project will be to
act on my behalf as a trustee to receive the safety deposit containing the
funds from the Securities firm. However, I believe this transaction should
be based on mutual benefit and interest.

For your reliable assistance, Iam are offering you 20% of the funds. I thank
you in advance as I anticipate your assistance so as to enable me
achieve this goal. On hearing from you, I will forward your contact to the
Securities Company for immediate commencement of the transaction.

Whether or not you are interested in this proposal, please let me know. This
will enable me make alternative plans, in the event of non-interest on
your part.

Please respond via this private e-mail address.
gregtiago@zwallet.com

With warm regards,
Mr.Greg Tiago


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