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: info@promotoc3.com
Reply-To: MikBennett@post.com
Date: Sun, 22 Oct 2017 01:41:41 -0700
Subject: Partnership


Good day friend,
I would respectfully request that you keep the content of this mail confid=
ential and respect the integrity of the information you come across as a re=
sult of this mail because I am contacting you privately.
Sometime in 2011, a customer of ours made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit =
for twelve calendar months, currently valued at =A38,843,000.00 (Eight Mill=
ion Eight Hundred and Forty Three Thousand British Pounds) in my bank. Upon=
maturity a routine notifications were sent to his forwarding address but w=
e got no reply. After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered=
from his contract employers, Royal Dutch Plc that the depositor had died a=
longside his longtime companion in an Auto crash.
If you are familiar with private banking practice, those who patronize our=
services usually prefer anonymity but also some level of detachment from c=
onventional processes. In the deceased bio-data form, he listed no next of =
kin. In the field of private banking, accounts are rarely held under a name=
, depositors use numbers and codes to make the accounts anonymous. In this =
case our client died intestate and in line with our internal processes for =
account holders who have passed away, my bank conducted a search in good fa=
ith to determine who should have right of claim to the funds and this has f=
or the past years been unfruitful.
The sum has since been sitting in my bank and the interest is being rolled=
over with the principal sum at the end of each year and no one has been ab=
le to come forward for it. According to the Laws of my environment, at the =
expiration of a given period if the said fund is not claimed the money will=
revert to the ownership of the government.
The banking world is fraught with huge rewards for those who occupy certai=
n offices and oversee certain portfolios. Consequently, what I propose is t=
hat I will like you to stand in as the next of kin to the depositor. Acting=
in this capacity really is simple as I will explain in details to you when=
I get your response. Reply to mikebennet7@outlook.com
Awaiting your urgent reply.
Respectfully,
Mike Bennett.

Anti-fraud resources: