419 scam: Francois Petit <louisgoossens196@gmail.com> Re: TREAT AS CONFIDENTIAL..

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: Francois Petit <louisgoossens196@gmail.com>
Reply-To: francoispetit744@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2021 11:31:16 +0100
Subject: Re: TREAT AS CONFIDENTIAL..

--

Hello,

I'm Francois Petit with Societe Generale Bank here in France. I
sincerely seek to present you as the Next of Kin to a late client who
left behind $145.5 million dollars in a fixed deposit account in my
bank before his demise.

The British born client was into Diamond and Gold mining and died
without a Next of Kin. I shall obtain the legal documents that will
give you legal rights to make this claim legitimately. I am willing to
share the funds 60/40 with you and this will be completed within 72
hours. With the legal documents, the bank will approve you as the Next
of Kin and pay out this amount to you within three working days. I
considered the funds would be of better use to both of us instead of
allowing corrupt politicians to confiscate the funds.

Please reach me as soon as possible with your full name, address,
direct contact number and occupation for the processing of the legal
documents if you are interested and can be trusted to return my own
share when you have received the funds in your bank account. More
information shall be given to you once I hear from you.

However, if you are not interested in the offer, kindly delete this
message from your mailbox and pretend that I never contacted you. I'll
continue my search for a liable person that will help out.

Best Wishes,
Francois Petit

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam