419 scam: "Mr.James Zenzo"<jameszenzoauditor@expressivemail.com> FROM: MR. JAMES ZENZO

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
This email message is a next of kin scam.
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +27762044810 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.James Zenzo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jameszenzo.auditor@expressivemail.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 13:48:18 +0200
Subject: FROM: MR. JAMES ZENZO

FROM: MR. JAMES ZENZO
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA.
Private Telephone: + 27 76 2044 810

Dear friend, my name is James Zenzo; I am the manager of auditing and accounting department of my bank here in Johannesburg, South Africa. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum $9.6million (Nine Million Six Hundred Thousand United State Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (MR. MIKE HALL) who died along with his entire family in the 2005 Tsunami in Asia. You can as well visit this website for more information about his death:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/4153821.stm.

Since we got information about his death, my bank have been long expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because my bank can not release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased. Unfortunately I learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him in the disaster leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you, so that the money can be released to you as the next of kin. I will send you full details on how the business will be executed as soon as you show me your interest in this proposal by sending to me your contact information and willingness to be my partner in this project.

We shall discuss about percentage upon your positive response, Do send to me the followings to enable us proceed to the next level. (1). Age. (2) Residential address (3) occupation (4) Private Telephone.

Waiting to hear from you.

My Regards,
James Zenzo.

NB: Please if you are not interesting in this proposal, kindly delete the message and keep the information to Confidential. Thank you.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam