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: H Serge <heniriserge@cantv.net>
Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:42:53 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From: Dr. Henri Serge.






From: Dr. Henri Serge.

Republique du Benin,

Tel: +229 9481 5016

 

I am Dr. Henri Serge, principal
treasury officer with my bank. I have decided to contact you through this
medium based on a business proposal, which will be of mutual benefit to both of
us. I discovered your email through comprehensive web email search on directory
so I decided to contact you. I know this might sound like scam to you because
of a lot of activities going on in the internet today. But I assure you that
this is real.

 

I am the personal accounts manager to
one of our late client, a national of your country, who used to work with an
oil servicing company here in Republique du Benin, the late client made a
numbered time (fixed) deposited for twelve calendar months, valued at us$12,500,000.00
(Twelve Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in my branch. Upon
maturity, we sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no
reply.

 

After a month, we sent a reminder and
finally we discovered from his contract employers, Benin Oil Corporation that
my client died from an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found
out that he did not leave a will and all attempts to trace his next of kin were
fruitless. I therefore made further investigation and discovered that the
deceased person did not declare any next of kin in all his official documents,
including his bank deposit paperwork.

 

This sum of (us$ 12,500,000.00) is
still sitting in the bank and the interest is rolled over with the principal
sum at the end of each year. No one will come forward to claim it. According to
the Republique du Benin law, at the expiration of 5{five} years, the money will
revert to the ownership of the Benin
government if nobody applies to claim the funds.

 

Consequently, my proposal is that I
will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to deceased person
for the fact that you have same last name with him so that this money will not
be reverted by the government. If this request matches with your inward
intention for success and greatness, then you are urged to make a quick
response indicating your interest and readiness to participate and work with me
to make this successful.

 

Please observe utmost confidentiality,
and rest assured that this transaction would be most profitable for both of us
because I shall require your assistance to my share for investment in your
country. in your return mail, please do forward me your following information
if you are willing to complete this deal with me, to enable me put the total fund
in your name for claim as the next of kin to the deceased person:

 

Your full name: Your contact address:
Your phone number: Your age.

 

Awaiting your urgent reply.

 

Regards,

 

Dr. Henri Serge.

Anti-fraud resources: