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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: "Johnson Adiyah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnsonadiyah6@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2016 18:33:11 -0500
Subject: Regards!!!!

Hello Dear,

My name is Mr. Johnson Adiyah. I am a banker here in Ghana. I got your
contact from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I need your help to transfer
USD$28,500,000.00 dollars.

The money is part of the excess profits from our bank last year ended
(i.e. 2015). I have already submitted annual report for last year to my
bank headquarters in Accra - Ghana, and they did not notice the excess
profits. I deposited the USD$28,500,000.00 dollars in an escrow account
without a beneficiary (Anonymous), to avoid any trace.

I cannot be directly connected to this money because I still work with the
bank. So, I need your help to transfer this money to your country for me
and you to share. I am offering you 45% of this money as your share and as
my foreign partner and the remaining 55% would be my share. There is no
risk involved because it will be a bank-to-bank transfer. All I need from
you is to stand as my foreign partner to enable you present a foreign bank
account where the money will be transferred into.

If you accept this proposal, I am prepared to go into partnership with
you. Please kindly reply to me for more information on how to proceed.

Sincerely,
Mr. Johnson Adiyah.

Anti-fraud resources: