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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.

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Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Roy Okoya" <okoya15@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: okoya16@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 16 Apr 2004 15:05:19 +0000
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL

Dear Brethren,

I am Mr. Roy Okoya the Auditor General of a
Prime bank in Africa. There Is an Account opened in
this bank in 1995 and since 2002 no body has Operated
on this account again. After going through some old
files in the records, I discovered that if I do not
remit this money out urgently it would be forfeited
for nothing.

The owner of this account is a Foreigner and an
INDUSTRIALIST and businessman by Profession.
He died since 1990. And no other person knows about this
account or anything concerning it. The account has no
other beneficiary and my Investigation Proved to me
as well that his company does not know anything about
his Account and the amount involved is USD 16m)
Sixteen Million United States Dollars.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner because of
your personality and the bank is going to welcome you
as a foreigner that has correct information about the
account, which I will give to you before we proceed. I
also ontacted you because I believe that a man of your
status should be able to handle such huge amounts with
discipline. I know that this message will come to you
as a surprise as we don't know ourselves before, we
will sign an agreement for the legitimacy of the money
before proceeding further.

I need your full cooperation to make this work
fine. If you are Capable to handle such amount in
strict confidence and trust according to My
instructions and advice we will achieve this money
immediately, because this opportunity might not Come
again in life. I will also use my Position to Influence
and affect legal approvals and immediate onward
transfer of this Money to Your account with
appropriate clearance from the ministries and
Foreign Exchange department.

As soon as I hear your response I will let you know
the modalities of securing this fund.. I look forward
to your earliest.


Yours sincerely,

Mr. Roy Okoya



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