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 Ralph Attah" <mr_ralph@mighty.co.za> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mr_ralph2005@yahoo.ca
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:12:30 +0000
Subject: AM WAITING FOR YOUR CONSIDARETION PLEASE

Good Day.
I am Mr.Ralph Attah, Auditor in chief with the Citi Bank plc. I got your very good name and e-mail address from the online classified posted on the net and decided to contact you purely on the personal trust and confidence that we can co-operate to do a very lucrative business for our mutual benefit. The Business I am proposing to you is in respect of the sum of US$13,000.000.00 (Thirteen Million, United States Dollars Only) deposited in Dollar account with my bank which belonged to Mr Chung Wyi a Chinese Person who died on 6th June ,2000 in an Automobile motor accident, he is an Engineering contractor and a business consultants with the Senegalese National petroleum and Gas Corperation (SNPGC).My bank has made several efforts at contacting the family of Mr. Chung or his relatives, but all have proved abortive as he had no identifiable knex of kin who will be position to benefit this fund.
This sum of money have remained unclaimed ever since then and nobody has come forward. The management under the influence of our chairman and member of the board of directors has made an arrangement for the fund to be declared 'UNSERVICED' and subsequently be turned to the reserve account of the bank. It is against the background of the fore going, I have decided to contact you for assistance and partnership, for you to stand as the next of kin to Mr.Chung wyi. Because with your permission this fund will be transferred to your private account abroad as the beneficiary and next of kin to him.
Meanwhile all proof of claim and necessary documentation will be carefully worked out in your favour and I assure you that there is no risk involve and I will protect your personality as an inner body of this bank. Consequently, if you find this proposal acceptable to you and you wish to co-operate with me and put your best effort for a perfection of the transfer, I expect your urgent response and we shall discuss and agree on the disbursement and sharing ratio. Let me therefore expect your very urgent response. Please endeavour to include your private phone and fax number and also your private e-mail. Thank you and best regards as I await your urgent response.

Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Ralph Attah.


Anti-fraud resources: