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: christopher.whit
Reply-To: <christopher.whit121@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2015 17:56:50 +0530
Subject: URGENT REPLY


Dear Sir, I sincerely apologize for intruding into your privacy, especially=
by contacting you through this means for a business transaction of this ma=
gnitude. I contacted you via web SMS because my mobile telephone package do=
es not send or receive messages. For this reasons, I want our communication=
to be basically through email for now. I want you to partner with me in ge=
tting back the money (US$4,800,000.00) left behind in a fixed deposit accou=
nt 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 contac=
ted 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 thi=
s transaction for any reason, I will give you more information of myself, o=
ur bank and the transaction itself once you write again. Late Mr. Rao Prasa=
d Venkateshwara lived and worked in New York City as an international busin=
essman. He deposited in our bank the sum of Four Million, Eight Hundred Tho=
usand 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 hi=
m 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 th=
e letters posted to his residential address. This issue prompted me to carr=
y out an independent investigation about his whereabouts since he did not p=
rovide 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 hea=
rt 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 o=
f this. He was a kind hearted man and give money out freely. I pray his sou=
l rest in peace However, I have on my own made several enquiries at your em=
bassy and no information of him was found, which I find weird. My effort to=
locate any of his relatives took me to your country and the regional passp=
ort 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 a=
pply 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 hi=
m or not. I will guide you all the way to make this claim. This is not a ma=
tter 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 opportuni=
ty to live better with it. This is a risk free transaction, as I am the ope=
rations 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 wit=
h 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 mone=
y. With my influence, our bank will tender the necessary documents to appro=
priate authorities, like your country's central bank (RBI) to enable a smoo=
th transfer of the money into your bank account. Everything will be done le=
gally, have no fear about this. Right now, I have all the copies of the doc=
uments 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 sho=
rtest 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 mov=
e to the next step towards getting the fund. Thank you and I am waiting. RE=
PIY TO THIS EMAIL christopher.whit121@hotmail.com Best regards, Christopher=
White REPIY TO THIS EMAIL ; christopher.whit121@hotmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: