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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: "Dr. James Marshall" <marshalldrjames4@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 14:06:10 +0200
Subject: Re: From Dr. James Marshall


Chief Auditor,

HSBC Bank of South Africa

Johannesburg South Africa,

Email : *jamesmarshallwebb@gmail.com <jamesmarshallwebb@gmail.com>*

Tel: *+27 72 7 71 6 453*

Confidential Business Proposal / Assistance.

Dear Sir,

In order to transfer out US$10.4 Million (Ten Million Four Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars) from HSBC BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA , I am mandated by my
colleagues to look for a reliable and honest person who will be capable for
this important business believing that you will never let me down either
now or in future.


I am Dr. James Marshall, the Chief auditor of HSBC BANK OF SOUTH AFRICA,
there is an account opened in this bank in 1990 and since 1994 nobody has
operated this account. After going through some old files in the records,
we discovered that if this money were not transferred urgently it would be
forfeited for nothing. The owner of this account is Engr. Leopold Donald
Prantz, a foreigner, and miner at Kruger gold company. Mr. Prantz died
since 1994 according to our investigations.

Interestingly, no other person except my three colleagues knows about the
dormant nature of this account or anything concerning it, the account has
no other beneficiary and the amount involved is US$10.4M (Ten Million Four
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars). WE want to transfer this fund from
this account into a safe foreigners account outside South Africa, but I do
not know any foreigner that I can trust hence my contacting you. I am only
contacting you as a foreigner because this money cannot be approved to a
local bank here, but can only be approved to any foreign account because
the money is in US Dollars and the former owner of the account, Leopold
Donald Prantz is a foreigner too.


In view of the information we have, we must inform you that the management
is ready to approve this payment to any foreigner, who has correct
information of this account, which we will give to you latter. We will do
this only if you convince me that you are able and capable to handle such
amount in strict confidence and trust for our mutual benefit. Furthermore,
it is important that I inform you clearly that this transaction is 100%
risk free and the major thing we demand from you is to remain trust worthy
and assure me that this money will be intact when transferred to your
account pending when we meet for us to share the money.


Once the money is transferred to your account, we shall destroy all
documents relating to the transfer of this money so that it cannot be
traced. We will also use our position and influence to obtain all legal
approvals and documentation for onward transfer of this money with
appropriate clearance from relevant Ministries and foreign exchange
department.


Finally, for your efforts/assistance, we are willing to give you 20% of the
money while 5% will be set aside (in principle) for both local and
international expenses incurred in the course of this transaction. I look
forward to hearing from you on the above telephone number and please
include all your personal information, telephone and fax numbers too.


Best regards,

Dr. James Marshall.

N.B: Please your urgent response is needed. Due to the nature of the
transfer, we need to hasten up as quickly as we can to transfer this money
out of South Africa.

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