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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: JOHN DOUGLAS <auditor.firstbank@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 25 May 2021 16:51:51 -0500
Subject: URGENT NOTIFICATION, PLEASE READ AND GET BACK TO ME

SUNTRUST BANK
Baltimore Main Office
120 E Baltimore St.
Baltimore, MD 21202
United States
Tel: 410-986-1540


Dear Sir,

I hope you are doing fine.

I am John Douglas,the Account Auditor/Remittance Officer of SunTrust Bank
Baltimore Main Office, Maryland .United States.

In the course of auditing some accounts in our bank, I found out that one
of the accounts has been dormant for the past five years with the sum of
$15,000.000(Fifteen Million United States Dollars) in the account.

I have investigated and found out that the account owner/depositor have
passed away sine six years ago leaving no one as the next-of-kin in the
document used to open the account.

I also discovered that the deceased depositor was from Iran and he died in
his Country.

I want to have these funds myself by transferring it out of our bank.

I wish to place your name as the beneficiary of US$15,000,000(Fifteen
Million United States Dollars) so that you will receive the funds.

I want us to do this deal together and have the funds and share it 40% for
you, 50% for me and 10% to reimburse ourselves in case of any expenses we
may incur in the process of this transaction.

However, I assure you that this transaction will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

The funds I am referring to is right here in our bank floating in suspense
account and I want to transfer it out of our bank to any account you will
provide for me.

I am in the position to put your name in the file as the beneficiary of the
funds since that the deceased beneficiary have no one from his family or
anywhere to claim the funds as his next-of-kin.

I will need you to provide the following information urgently to enable my
attorney obtain all the relevant legal documents for the fund remittance
into your account.

1) Name:
2) Address:
3) Tel:
4) Age:
5) Sex:
6) Occupation:
7) Copy of any of your identity

You should keep this transaction very confidential until we finalize and
share our proceeds.

Our Communication will strictly be through email. for the security of our
transaction

I await your prompt response.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr. John Douglas
Account Auditor/Remittance Officer
SunTrust Bank, Baltimore Main Office, Maryland United States

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