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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.William Barry" <williambarry@voila.fr>
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 13:36:23 +0000
Subject: I expecting your urgent response!

>From The Desk Of Mr William Barry,
The senior auditor in charge
Foreign remittance unit,

Dear friend,
Good day

I presumed that all is well with you and your family. Please let this
not be a surprised message to you because i got your contact
information from the international directory few weeks ago before I
decided to contact you on this magnitude and lucrative transaction for
our present and future survival in life. Moreover, i have laid all the
solemn trust in you before i decided to disclose this successful and
confidential transaction to you.

I am the senior auditor in charge of foreign remittance unit of our
bank and i decided to contact you for this financial transaction worth
eight million two hundred thousand us dollars (8.2 m) for our present
and future success. This is an abandoned fund that belongs to one of
our bank foreign customers who died along with his entire family
through plane crash few years ago.

Meanwhile, i was very fortunate to come across the deceased file when
i was arranging the old and abandoned customers file in other to sign
and submit to the entire bank management for an official documentation
and audit of the year against 2013.

Informed clearly that it was stated in our foreign banking rules and
regulations which was signed lawfully that if such fund remains
unclaimed till the period of twenty years started from the date the
beneficiary died, the money will be transferred into the bank treasury
as unclaimed fund however, it is not authorizes by the rules guiding
our bank for a citizen of my country to make the claim of the fund
unless you are a foreigner no matter the country.

So the request of you as a foreigner is necessary to apply for the
claim and transfer of the fund smoothly into your reliable bank
account as the next of kin to the deceased. when the fund is
transferred into your account 40% will be for you in respect of all
your assistance for the transfer of the fund into your account and
provision of the bank account where the bank will remit the fund, 50%
will be for me being the pioneer of the business while the rest 10%
will be shared to respectable organizations such as charity and the
destitute homes around us in the world.

If you are really sure of your trustworthiness, accountability and
confidentiality on this transaction contact me and accept not to
change your mind to cheat or disappoint me when the fund is
transferred into your account. So therefore reply for the assurance
with your telephone and fax numbers to facilitate easy communication.
As soon as you reply, you notify me so that i will let you know the
next step and procedure to follow in order to finalize this
transaction successfully.

I expecting your urgent response!

Yours sincerely,

Mr William Barry

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