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: "Mr.John Mendez" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnmendez079@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2018 07:59:01 -0700
Subject: Re: Mutual Benefit

Hello,


My name is Mr.John Mendez,Director; HSBC Private Banking,I contact you independently of our investigation and no one is informed of this communication.A client who shares the same name with you
and also the circumstances surrounding investments made by this client at HSBC Bank Plc.The HSBC Private banking client died intestate and nominated no next of kin to inherit the title over the investment
made with HSBC Bank Pls.


My proposal;you share similar details to the late fellow;I am prepared to instruct the Security Consultancy firm to release the deposit to you as the closest surviving relation.Upon receipt of the deposit,I am prepared
to share the money with you in half.That is.I will simply nominate you as the next of kin and have them release the deposit to you.We share the proceeds 50/50.


I would have gone ahead to ask the funds be released to me,but that would have drawn a straight line to me and my involvement with claiming the deposit.But on the other hand, you with the same surname
as the original depositor would easily pass as the beneficiary or next of kin with right to claim. I assure you that I could have the deposit released to you within a few days. I will simply inform the bank of the
final closing of the file I will then officially communicate with the Security Consultancy firm and instruct them to release the deposit to you. With these two things: all is done.


The alternative would be for us to have the Security Consultancy firm direct the funds to another bank with you as the account holder.


This way there will be no need for you to think of receiving the money from the Security Consultancy firm as it is not a conventional financial institution; they accept deposits from only organizations thus;
what you hand over to them is what you get back. They do not have the means to process the mone,We can fine-tune this based on our interactions.


I am aware of the consequences of this proposal. I ask that if you find no interest in this project that you should discard this mail. I ask that you do not be vindictive and destructive. If my offer is of no appeal to
you, delete this message and forget I ever contacted you. Do not destroy my career because you do not approve of my proposal.


Hope to hear from you.

Truly yours
Mr.John Mendez.
johnmendez079@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: