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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: "DR. PHILIPS NORRIS" <test@central.mercfresh.com>
Reply-To: accessbankplc091@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 16 Dec 2021 22:34:57 -0800
Subject: HELLO FRIEND.

Dear friend,

I am the bill and exchange manager at the foreign remittance department of Central Bank Of Nigeria I got your email address while searching for trustworthy countries and individuals. In my department I discovered an account with the sum of $25 million dollars in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer killed with his entire family on Monday, 31 July, 2018 by Boko Haram terrorist in Bauchi Northern Nigeria.

Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but unfortunately we leant that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him on the Boko Haram terrorist attack leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it and I don't want this money to go into Central Bank Of Nigeria treasury as unclaimed funds.

The banking law and guideline here stipulates that if such money remained unclaimed after Seven years, the money will be transferred into the (Central Bank Of Nigeria) treasury as unclaimed funds. The request of foreigner as next of kin in this business is occasioned by the fact that the customer was a foreigner and a cannot stand as next of kin to a foreigner.

I agree that 30% of this money will be for you as foreign partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, 10 % will be set aside for expenses incur during the business and 60 % would be for me and there after I and my wife with my children will visit your country for disbursement according to the percentages indicated. Therefore to enable the immediate release and transfer of this fund to you as arranged, you must apply first as the relation or next of kin of the deceased indicating your name, your private telephone and fax number for easy and effective communication and location where-in the money will be remitted.

Upon receipt of your reply, I will send to you by email the text of the application. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this transaction is hitch free and that you should not entertain an atom of fear as all required arrangements have been made for the transfer.

You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter to enable this mutual transaction commence on time because this fund has over-stayed here.

Trusting to hear from you soonest

Yours Truly
Mr. Philips Norris
Bill/Exchange Manager
Foreign Remittance department

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