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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: Christopher White <mingmui313@gmail.com>
Reply-To: christowhite01@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 07:21:56 +0100
Subject: PLEASE REPLY.

Dear Sir,

I sincerely apologize for intruding into your privacy, especially by
contacting you through this means for a business transaction of this
magnitude. I contacted you via email message because I want our
communication to be basically through email for now. I want you to
partner with me in getting back the money (US$4,800,000.00) left
behind in a fixed deposit account in our bank by a citizen of your
country, Mr. Rao Prasad Venkateshwara. If this will endanger your
position and reputation, I would
not have contacted you. This is safe and beneficial. I am presently
the operations manager of our bank in Ohio, United States of America
and please do not expose this transaction for any reason, I will give
you more information of myself, our bank and the transaction itself
once you write again.Late Mr. Rao Prasad Venkateshwara lived and
worked in New York City as an international businessman. He deposited
in our bank the sum of Four Million, Eight Hundred Thousand US Dollars
(US$4,800,000.00) as fixed deposit. This deposit has long matured and
has gone dormant for about two
years. We have tried to reach him and could not. His telephone number could
not be reached, emails sent to him kept bouncing back as undelivered and we
never got any response from the letters posted to his residential address.

This issue prompted me to carry out an independent investigation about
his whereabouts since he did not provide a next of kin or beneficiary
at the time he made the deposit with us. I later realized with shook
that he died sometime in November 2009 of heart related illness in a
Los Angeles hospital. His death was not reported to our bank from that
time till this moment and nobody in our bank is aware of this. He was
a kind hearted man and give money out freely. I pray his soul rest in
peace.

However, I have on my own made several inquiries at your embassy and
no information of him was found, which I find weird. My effort to
locate any of his relatives took me to his country and the regional
passport office in New Delhi informed me that the passport number was
irrelevant and not issued anywhere in India. Since this is the issue,
I want you to apply as the next of kin of the deceased to claim the
deposit from our bank since it is assumed he was from India. It does
not matter whether you knew him or not, it does not matter if you have
any kind of relationship with him or not. I will guide you all the way
to make this claim. This is not a matter of being greedy or having
ugly morals, it is not the best to leave the money to eventually end
up in Government hands while we have the opportunity to live better
with it. This is a risk free transaction, as I am the operations
manager of our bank and the final approval of your application will be
done by my department. Once it is approved, you will have the right to
claim the money. And when it is transferred to you, I will come to
meet with you in order to share the money which will be into two equal
parts (50:50) for each of us after deducting all the costs incurred in
getting the money.

With my influence, our bank will tender the necessary documents to
appropriate authorities, like your country's central bank to enable a
smooth transfer of the money into your bank account. Everything will
be done legally, have no fear about this. Right now, I have all the
copies of the documents relating to the fixed deposit late Mr. Rao
Prasad Venkateshwara made that you will file to back up this claim.
All I require now is your honest cooperation to enable us make this
claim and we have to do this within shortest time possible. If you are
willing to do this with me, write back and I shall inform you on what
next to do. If nothing is done immediately, the money will be returned
to the government treasury as an abandoned fund and we will gain
nothing from it. I am waiting for your consent in order to move to the
next step towards getting the fund. Thank you and I am waiting.Please
reply to this mailbox(topherwhite008@hotmail.com)

Best regards,
Christopher White

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