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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.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Attorney Peter Johnson Esq." <peterjohnnsonn20@gmail.com>
Reply-To: peterjohnson20088@googlemail.com
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 08:07:22 -0600
Subject: inheritance fund.

>From The Desk:
Attorney Peter Johnson Esq.
London-England Uk.
Email: jhnsnpeter620@gmail.com

Attn:

I am Attorney Peter Johnson an account operator to late (Mr. Michael A.
John) a nationality of your country who unfortunately died on the Terrorist
attack in Liverpool on the dated 7th July 2005. Since the death of (Mr.
Michael A. John)I as his account operator have made several enquiries to
locate his relations to come up for the inheritance claim, without any
success.

I came across your name and contact on the course of my personal searching
for my late client relations/next of kin so I decided to contact you for
this project. I am contacting you to assist in securing the wealth left
behind in a fixed deposit account by my late client before they get
confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank where my late client
operates an account The board of Directors of the bank has issued and spread
a notice that after 2 months from now and no relation shown up for the
claiming of the said funds, the funds will be confiscated and declared
unserviceable.

Since The board of Directors of the bank have been unsuccessful in locating
my client relatives for sometime now, it's on this note that I seek your
consent to present you as the relation/next of kin to my late client that
the proceed of this deposit can be released into your account. The amount
deposited (GBP 9.8M) also i believed with interest (GBP 9.8m) I will agree
with you on 40% for you while 60% for me. I guarantee that this transaction
will be executed under a legitimate arrangement which will protect you from
any breach of the law. Upon your response, furnish me with:

Your full name and address
Your telephone and fax numbers
Your occupation and age

As soon as I receive all these information from you I will present it to the
bank Directors that I have locate the relation to my late client since they
asked that I should provide the next of kin for them to release the
inheritance fund. Let me hear from you once you acknowledge my email. My
alternative email address is jhnsnpeter620@gmail.com

Yours faithfully,

Attorney Peter Johnson Esq.

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