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: "Daniels" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <b77775@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:13:14 -0800
Subject: Seeking VTJ

From: Tom Johnson
Johnson Consultants Service Ltd.

This is a confidential message from Johnson Consultants: private consulting
firm in Canada

I have been directed to contact you after waiting for a response from the letter we sent to you
with regards to ongoing search involving a deceased client of TD Bank. The client, who shared
the same last name with you, died intestate so it is standard and mandatory that
a next of kin be sought who may inherit the estate. Kindly clarify the following:

- Are you aware of any relative of yours whose last known contact address was
Toronto, Canada, with investments of considerable value with TD Bank


- If you answered yes to the above then you can establish beyond reasonable
doubt your eligibility to assume status of next of kin to the deceased and note that
our our office will handle all expenses in this transaction once you are honest and
will deduct it from the principal amount as soon as it is released to you.

Understand that we are at this point contstained to share more details of this
matter with you. We will need to hear from you urgently and hope you can assist
us in bringing this inquiry to a conclusion.Please respond as soon as possible to afford us the
opportunity to process this claim. Thank you for accommodating our
enquiries.

Yours sincerely,
Mr Tom Johnson
Johnson Consultants Service Ltd.




------------------------------------------------------------------------
This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual(s)
to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that
you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination,
forwarding, printing, copying of, or any action taken in reliance upon it, is
strictly prohibited and may be illegal.

Anti-fraud resources: