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: Greg Williams <gredwilliams098@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2022 20:33:55 -0400
Subject: Need Your Urgent Reply


I am Mr. Alex Robbison, the auditor and head of the computing department
of a financial institution. I am contacting you in regards to a deceased
client who died in a plane crash in April 2004, he was a prominent client
of our bank . He happens to share the same LAST NAME with you .
Before his death, he deposited(₤ 5.5million)at our financial institution
here in Europe, documentations regarding these transactions indicate that
claims can only be made by his relatives /family members .Unfortunately he
had no will at the time of his death .All effort made revealed no link to
any of his family members.
However, the New EU law of succession /claims/fund indicates a duration in
which such claims could be tolerated. Our bank has mandated me to present
the next of kin or a relative who will claim the funds and failure to
respond to this ultimatum would legally allow the financial institute to
report these funds to the central bank of EU as unclaimed funds(Lack of
supersede).
I and my colleague who happens to be a legal consultant have put in place
all necessary requirements concerning the release of these funds and It is
my intention to introduce this opportunity to you as the beneficiary. I am
legally equipped with all necessary information/documentations concerning
this fund.
Upon your decision of acceptance, I would process the release of these
funds to your possession. You would be entitled to 40% of the said fund and
60% for me .
Please respond immediately via my private email address
(alexrobbison45@gmail.) for further instructions .

Yours Truly
Alex Robbison

Anti-fraud resources: