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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: Malam Usman <malamusman0011@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2014 14:04:43 +0100
Subject: VERY IMPORTANT MESSAGE

Dear Friend.

Though, this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I choose to
reach you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of
communication
I am Franklin Nana, Manager in Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) since my
assumption of office, I have been able to offset most Overdue contract
sums
owed by the Government of Ghana to Foreign contractors in the past years.
In the process of these payments, I discovered through investigation
that my predecessor moved out $8.5M (eight million Five hundred
thousand united
state dollars) outside but was unable to conclude the transaction
before he was removed out of office unaware and the bank codes
changed.
The fund originated from the balance of over-invoiced sum and inflated
government contracts of which the principal sum had been paid to
foreign
contractors that executed their contract some years ago. This fund is
now floating in a suspense account of our bank and will be moved by
telegraphic
transfer within 48 hours of perfection of your account coordinates.
I have concluded all necessary Arrangements for the TRANSFER of the
money to an account, Contacting you on this issue became imperative to
owing to
the fact that the transfer cannot be affected without a second party
account and receiving Bank Code and SWIFT numbers.
Therefore, what is required from you is trust and honesty. No travel
is required; I will forward an account where my share will be further
transferred to when the money reaches your bank. At the moment I can
only give information that is reasonably able to assist the
transaction without
jeopardize my person, work or this transaction? Please send detail
information,
1 your full names................................................
2, your telephone/fax numbers............................
3, profession.......................................................
4, age/sex............................................................
5, marital status...................................................
6, Occupation.....................................................
You can email now to indicate your willingness.
Thanks in advance for a mutual and fruitful Business association.
Regards
Malam Usman

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