joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "escrow account with no beneficiary" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "it will be a bank to bank transfer" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "there are practically no risks involved" (almost true for the criminal - arrests of online criminals are rare)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Gabriel Konfoso" <gha_dgk@yahoo.com.hk> (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2007 10:51:35 -0700
Subject: Anticipating Your Respond !!!

Dear Sir / Madam,

Please permit me to introduce myself, my name is Dr. Gabriel Konfoso the regional manager of Barclay’s Bank of Ghana. I am forty nine (49) years old, married with two lovely kids, a devoted Christian and a man of peace. Difficulties encountered in efforts to establish a business abroad necessitate this search for someone to assist me in securing and investing a huge sum deposited and abandoned in the bank over the years by a deceased investor and am prompted to approach you in good faith.

I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and me and this is a risk free transaction. With my position in the bank and job obligations I discovered some years ago of existence of unclaimed nineteen million six hundred and eighty thousand United States dollars (US$19,680,000.00) abandoned deposit. This fund was deposited by a deceased customer without next of kin's information and I have carefully secured and placed this fund in escrow account with no beneficiary and it will remain there even till the end of time.

It is my duty to send in a financial report of our branches to the board of directors but as an officer of this bank I cannot be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you is to seek for your assistance receiving this deposit with your personal or company's account and get 20% of the total fund as commission. I will simply insert your information in the secret files of the deposit(s) and back it up with all the relevant legal papers and my bank will officially order the transfer of the fund to your stated account. There are practically no risks involved, it will be a bank to bank transfer. All I need from you is absolute sincerity, transparency and your exercising of strictest of confidence.

If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it very much. Please write me now if you think we can work together so that we can go over the details.

Thank you in advance and May God bless you.

Yours sincerely,
Dr. Gabriel Konfoso.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam