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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: "Micheal Adams" <micheal7adams@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: micheal1adams@k.ro
Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 17:58:26 -0700
Subject: Attention Please

From the desk of Mr. Micheal Adams
Special Adviser to the Senate Head Republic of Ghana.
Ph; 233-243-167-657
Dear Sir,
I hope that this mail will not be an embarrassment to you; my name is Mr. Micheal Adams. The Special Adviser of the embattled ex-Senate president of the Ghana who is under detention at the moment. Just recently I went to see my him in his detention place he confidently told me that he has some amount of money deposited in a Bank in a bank here in Ghana and after he told me where to see the certificate of deposit which I saw intact. A total of $6M was deposited now since we (Service members) are closely monitored by the incumbent government.
We wish to employ your services to act as our Fund Manager abroad to claim this sum from the bank and invest the money in your country till we are ready to come over to take over the investment from you. All you will do is to apply with the bank for the claim of the fund into your account .Then we will write an order for the bank to transfer the money into the account that you send for the transaction and once this is achieved my the that was bearing on the Deposit slip will be completely erased from the transaction and it make the whole thing risk free.
Upon request I will send to you a copy of the application and the full contact of the bank for you to contact them as the Oversea Fund Manager. Considering the effort you will put in the transaction starting from the setting of the account to the investment of the money we are willing to concede 25% of the money to you as compensation, while we will write an asset management agreement between us for you to invest the remaining75% on our behalf.
We will want to know you well and therefore you are expected to send to us you're CV, information as well as any other means of proper Identification. Even though the transaction will be based on mutual trust. Please if this proposal interests you, please make sure you get back to me as soon as possible or you can reach me via my direct line stated above. Please keep this matter as a top secret till the end of the transaction.
Regards
Mr.Micheal Adams



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