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: "Mr. Joseph Ododoh" <ododo_jo10@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: ododo_jo10@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 3 Nov 2004 12:16:48 +0100
Subject: Very urgent please

Dear Sir.

I'm sorry to disturb you!

My name is Mr.Joseph Ododoh,a Liberian national the only son of Gen.Godwin Ododoh, the second in command of Revolutionary United Front in Liberia, He died,at battle field on 22th Feb 2002 during the United nation peace keeping intervention at the Gbanga Village of Liberia.

Meanwhile, before his death, he deposited an amount of seven million four hundred thousand American dollars(U.S.$7.400,000) in a security and finance Firm in Dakar-Senegal with my name as the next of kin to the fund.

Right now, I want you to help me so that I can transfer this money into your accounts for invest it and also to help me acquire naturalization status in your country. I will offer you 10% of the total fund as your reward and also 5% as miscellaneous expenses you may do. Please respond to me accordingly as soon as you receive my email, so that I will give you more details of the transaction with all the deposit documents which my late father left for me before he died. Take care.

Looking forward to hearing you.

Yours Truly,

Joseph Ododoh.







Anti-fraud resources: