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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Francoise Caroline" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info@bigideasconsultants.com>
Date: Wed, 25 May 2022 01:22:14 -0000
Subject: Urgent Assistance Needed!

Good day,
 
I am Mrs. Francoise Caroline, the Director of affairs and corporate governance committee in a bank here in my country.
 
I am writing this letter to ask for your assistance and co-operation to carry out this transaction. In my department I discovered an abandoned sum of EUR67,509,290.00 (Sixty Seven Million Five Hundred And Nine Thousand Two Hundred And Ninety Euros). In an account that belongs to one of our customers who died along with the wife and children in a ghastly motor accident in November 2017. Since after his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money as the heir because we cannot release any money from the account unless someone applies for claims as the next of kin to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.
 
Unfortunately, neither his family member nor distant relatives has applied to claim the fund. Upon this discovery, I have decided to make business with you and release the total amount to you via a security company. Because according to law of 1993 any account that has no valid claim after a few years will be revert to government treasury, please note that this information is very confidential.
 
I need your full cooperation because the management is ready to approve the payment to anybody who has correct information about this account, which I will give to you later if you are able to handle such an amount in strict confidence and trust according to my instructions and advice for our mutual benefit.
 
With my position now in the office, I can transfer this money to any account, which you can provide with assurance that this money will be intact pending my physical arrival in your country for sharing. I will destroy all documents of the transaction immediately we receive this money leaving no traces to any place. At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 50% and 50%is for me.
 
Looking forward to hearing from you if you are interested:
 
Best Wishes:
Mrs. Francoise Caroline
Director of affairs and corporate governance committee

Anti-fraud resources: