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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Jorge Coma" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jorgecoma.tlaw@googlemail.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 2009 16:59:51 +0200
Subject: IN GOOD FAITH...(ASSISTANCE NEEDED)

Goodday,

I am Mr. Jorge Coma an external auditor here in England.This is a personal and private mail directed to you and I request that it be treated as such.In the course of our yearly routine audit of investment Portfolio, I discovered that a personal account has been dormant for over seven years with a huge balance. The account belongs to a single Beneficiary who shared the same last name with you.The Late investor died in a Plane Crash alongside his entire family while on holiday in Greece.Details of this Incidence could be found on the following website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4150312.stm

Further investigations of the said account reveal that the Late investor,who died intestate and nominated no successor in title over his Deposit with the Bank totalling US$8 MILLION,last operated the account in 2005,about the time of his death.Hence,there was no Beneficiary/Next of Kin coming forward all these years to lay claim to the investment account.

The personal investment account in this instance has been dormant for about 4 years, thus making it a dormant account. I wish to inform you that using our Inside leverage, We (I shall be working on this with an attorney whose services we would require at this time),together with yourself can secure the funds in this account for us instead of allowing it sent to the Treasury of the Government of the United Kingdom.I am prepared to place you in a position to instruct the Bank to release the deposit to you as the Next of Kin All that is needed is your consent and co-orperation.All necessary legal documents required will be secured by the Attorney with the Information I shall furnish provide.

You shall be adequately compensated for your part in this transaction. I shall however leave out the other details of this transaction till I receive an affirmation of your desire to participate. I can assure you that we are completely in charge of the transaction and as such there is no risk whatsoever if you decide to work with us. It is however important to say that secrecy is of vital importance if we are to successfully reap the immense benefits of this transaction.

If you wish to proceed with me,Please send me the following to my private email:jorgecoma.tlaw@googlemail.com & jorgeatlaw1@aim.com

i.Your full names,ii.Contact number,iii. Mailing address

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,

Mr.Jorge Coma.

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