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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: "DR. MBENI SOTO" <mbenisot@tiscali.it>
Reply-To: mbenisoto1@tiscali.it
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2004 14:57:45 +0000
Subject: EMAILPROPOSAL.

FROM: DR. MBENI SOTO
EMAIL:mbenisoto@tiscali.it.
DATE:19TH NOVEMBER 2004

Dear Sir,

It is my pleasure to write you this letter on behalf of my colleagues. I got your information as a member of the South African Export Promotion Council (SAEPC) Government delegation who was on a recent trip to your country for a bilateral conference talk to encourage foreign investors. I decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you for the execution of a transaction hereunder for the benefit of all parties and hope you will keep it confidential because of the nature of this business.

I am the director of Audit and Project Implementation with the Department of Mineral and Energy, two top officials and I have in our possession an overdue payment in US funds. The said funds represent a certain percentage of the total contract value executed on behalf of my department by a foreign contracting firm which we the officials over-invoiced to the amount of Fourteen Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only (US$14,500,000.00).

The reason of inflating the original value is to divert the excess value to a foreign bank account for our personal use. The actual contract cost has been paid to the original contractor leaving the balance unclaimed.
We are seeking your assistance to front as beneficiary of the unclaimed funds as civil servants are not allowed to operate foreign bank account. A formal application for claim to the relevant authority and documentation to present you/company as the beneficiary will be secured on behalf of you/company.

I have the authority of my partners involved to propose that should you be willing to assist us in this transaction your share as compensation will be US$3.625M (25%) while my colleagues and I will receive US$9.425M (65%) and the balance of US$1.450M (10%) for taxation and miscellaneous expenses incurred.

The business is 100% safe, risk and failure proof provided you treat it with utmost confidentiality and priority as we intend to destroy all the relevant approval documents relating to the project once the payment is released to you/company to avoid any trace to you or us in future. It does not matter whether you/company does contract project as a transfer of powers will be secured in favour of you, also your area of specialization is not a hindrance to the successful execution of this transaction. I have reposed my confidence in you and hope that you will not disappoint us as we intend to conclude the transfer within 14 working days.

Kindly reply to my email above stating your complete names, your direct telephone and fax numbers to enable me furnish you with a detailed explanation upon your acceptance of this proposal for effective communication.

Thank you for your co-operation.

Regards

Dr. Mbeni Soto



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