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: "Benson Richard" <richardbenson_01@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 04 Jan 2006 05:07:02 -0500
Subject: BUSINESS PURPOSE.........

FROM:MR.RICHARD BENSON.
FLAT 27 BLOCK 9,RIDGEWAY GARDENS,
NORTHGATE,JOHANNESBURG.
SOUTH AFRICA.
 
 
ATTN: ELENA,
My greetings,
 
        TRANSFER OF (US$1 MILLION) ONE MILLION  UNITED STATES DOLLARS
 
I am MR.RICHARD BENSON.A CEO of the Assessment and Service at South African Revenue Services(SARS)Our division fulfils a number of important functions. It compiles and profiles the Vat and income tax register, which is the record of all active taxpayers. It also processes taxpayer and VAT returns and facilitates the payment of taxes and returns.
 
During our end of year 2005/2006 assessment rutine my office noticed an amount R65M (South African Currency which is equivalent to US$1M.This is the total sum the SARS department received from companies who deals directly to the public e.g. sales and services.These people unfortunately has not register for income tax and VAT which will give them the right to claim there returns.The SARS also has no information of these people to enable them pay the returns back to them.
 
Therefore i have arranged with the manager of the accounting dept.whose duty is to deposit the payments to clients bank account to take this amount out of the country.Failure to do this on or before 31st Feb. 2006,this amount shall be deposited to the government treasury as unclaimed bills.
It is based on this information that i contact you to enquire if you will be willing to establish a cordial business relationship with me.
 
The procedure is that you shall be requested to send to me your fullname,fax number and private fax number.When i received these information i shall include it in our system.It is then the accounting dept.shall contact you by sending some forms to you which you will requested to give your Reg.name,close cooperations number,VAT number,Income tax number,Nature of business,account details etc. shall give you all these information’s to file in this form and refax to the office.
 
The Auditing dept.shall go through this form before the advice the accounting dept to deposit this amount to the account you provided in the form.
When this fund is finally transferred to your account,you shall be entitled to 30% of the total amount and the remaining 70% shall be mine.
Please try and get back to me as soon as possible the below email address  if you ready to work with me.richard_benson55@yahoo.co.uk
Thanks,
My regards,

Mr.Richard Benson.

 

Anti-fraud resources: