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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: JOZEF ETIENNE <udonowak@mdcc-fun.de>
Reply-To: jozefes47@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 13 May 2024 01:32:59 +0200
Subject: GET BACK TO ME FOR MORE =?iso-8859-1?b?SU5GT1JNQVRJT06g?=

Greetings,

I am Mr. Jozef Julien Etienne, a banker from Belgium, and I am
contacting you with a confidential proposal. In 2010, a man named Mr.
Albert Guido, who was an oil merchant and engineering contractor from
your country, deposited ?28,750,000 (Twenty-Eight Million Seven
Hundred and Fifty Thousand Euros) in our bank in Belgium. I was his
account officer at the time.

Sadly, Mr. Guido passed away in March 2011 during a tsunami earthquake
in Sendai, Japan, while on a business trip. Since then, our bank has
been searching for a way to contact him to find out if he wants to
withdraw the funds or roll them over. However, I discovered his death
before the bank management, and I fear that they will use the funds
for their gain if they find out.

Therefore, I am proposing that we preserve this fund and use the
proceeds for charity. I am willing to share the funds with you if you
are interested in assisting me with this project. Please let me know
if you are willing to work with me on this proposal.

I am seeking your cooperation to present you as the one to benefit
from his fund at his death. So that my bank headquarters will pay the
funds to you. I have made enough inside the bank arrangements already
and I only have to put your details into the information network in
the bank computers database and reflect you as his next of kin to the
deceased Albert Guido.

This is a smooth and risk-free operation as long as no one else
besides you and I know about this. I immensely request your optimum
honesty and cooperation. Let me know your opinion on this, and please
treat this information with utmost confidentiality. We will go over
the details as soon as I receive your urgent response strictly through
my email address, my email address is jozef47@zohomail.com

Please take note of this instruction very carefully. I am a family man
with a daughter. I have some doubts about the consequences that might
arise if my bank finds out about my secret plan. Therefore, I request
you to keep this information confidential between us.

The sharing formula would be 45% for me, 45% for you, and 10% for Charity.

Please let "CONFIDENTIALITY" be our watchword until success is achieved.

Best Regards,
Mr. Jozef Julien Etienne



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