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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: =?iso-8859-1?q?Richard=20Koffi?= <richardkoffi_23@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 1 May 2006 14:06:54 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: From Mr Richard Koffi


I have a new email address!You can now email me at: richardkoffi_23@yahoo.co.uk

Dearest,


I am Mr Richard Koffi,a manager in the Bills and Exchange at the

Foreign Remittance Department of one of the leading banks in Ghana. I am

writing thisletter to ask for your support and cooperation to carry out

this business opportunity in my department.


We discovered an abandoned sum of US$10,700,000 (Ten Million Seven

Hundred thousand U.S Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our

foreigncustomers Late Mr.Choi Soohyun a customer who perished in a plane

crash[Korean Air Flight 801] with the whole passengers aboard on

August6,1997.Please confirm below,

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/9708/06/guam.passenger.list/


Since we heard of his death, we have been expecting his next-of-kin to

come over and put claims for his money as the heir,because we cannot

release the fund from his account unless someone applies for claim as the

next-of-kin to the

deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines.Unfortunately, neither

their family member nor distant relative has ever appeared to claim the

said fund.


It is in our banking guideline that if none of the relatives come up to

claim this fund after 9years of the death of the late customer,the fund

will be regarded as an unclaimed bill and will be transferred to the

bank's treasury account.


Upon this discovery, I and other officials in my department have agreed

to make business with you and release the total amount into your

account as the heir of the fund since no one came for it or discovered he

maintained account with our bank,otherwise the fund will be returned to

the banks treasury as unclaimed fund.


We have agreed that our ratio of sharing will be as stated thus;30 %

for youas foreign partner,65 % for us the officials in my department and

5 % for the settlement of all local and foreign expences incurred by us

and you during the course of this business.


Upon the successful completion of this transfer, I and one of my

colleagueswill come to your country and mind our share. It is from our 65% we

intend to import Agricultural Machineries into my country as a way of

recycling the fund.


To commence this transaction,we require you to immediately indicate

your interest by a return e-mail with the following information:

1)Your private telephone and fax number

2.Your full name


Upon the receipt of this,i will inturn get back to you and give you the

mordalities for the bank to approve you as the next of kin.


Note also, this transaction must be kept confidential because of its

nature.I look forward to receiving your prompt response.Please get back

to me at my private email at:richardkoffi01@excite.com


Best Regards

Mr Richard Koffi



- Richard Koffi


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