joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
 Free trial for 30 days
   jwSpamSpy
Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Steve Baker" <stvbk@tiscali.it>
Reply-To: stvbk@lycos.com
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 13:44:23 +0500
Subject: Please Respond ASAP.

FROM THE DESK OF MR. STEVE BAKER
DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM RESOURCES
MAITAMA DISTRICT,
GARKI-ABUJA

I am Mr. Steve Baker, a member of the Contract Award Committee of the above
department.

Terms of Reference:
My term of reference involves the award of contracts to multinational
companies. My office is saddled with the responsibility of contract award,
screening, categorization and prioritization of projects embarked upon by
Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) as well as feasibility studies
for selected projects and supervisig the project consultants involved.
The DPR is now compiling beneficiaries to be paid for the last Fiscal Quarter
of 2003 and the first quarter of this year.

The crux of this letter is that the finance/contract department of the DPR
deliberately over -invoiced the contract value of the various contracts
awarded. In the course of disbursements, this department has been able to
accumulate the sum of US$7.31Million(Seven Million, Three Hundred And Ten
Thousand U.S Dollars) as the over-invoiced sum. This money is currently
in a suspense account of the DPR account with the Debt Reconciliation Committee
(DRC).

We now seek to process the transfer of this fund officially as contract
payment to you as a foreign contractor, who will be fronting for us as
the beneficiary of the fund. In this way we can facilitate these funds into
your nominated account for possible investment abroad. We are not allowed
as a matter of government policy to operate any foreign account to transfer
this fund into.

However, for your involvement in assisting us with this transfer
into your nominated account we have evolved a sharing formula as
follows:
(1) 25% for you as the foreign partner
(2) 75% for I and my colleagues

We shall be relying on your advice as regard investment of our share in
any business in your country. Be informed that this business is genuine
and 100% safe considering the high-power government officials involved.
Send your private fax/telephone numbers.

Upon your response we shall provide you with further information on the
procedures. Expecting your prompt positive response as I Look forward
to a good business relationship with you.

Sincerely,
Steve Baker



__________________________________________________________________
Tiscali Adsl 2 Mega Free: naviga gratis tutto l'anno!
Supera tutti i limiti di velocita' con Tiscali Adsl 2 Mega Free.
Sei libero da costi fissi e, se ti abboni entro l'8 novembre,
navighi gratis tutto l'anno.
http://abbonati.tiscali.it/adsl/




Anti-fraud resources: