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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: "Ian Reed" <reed@ianreeds.com>
Reply-To: ianreed@k.ro
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2005 03:51:20 +0000
Subject: FOR YOUR PERUSAL AND REACTION

With due regards, I take the liberty to contact you for an urgent business
transaction which will be of immense benefit to all parties concerned. I am
IAN REED an expatriate consultant on secondment to the Niger Delta
Development Commission,NDDC.
This commission was set up by the present civilian Adminisatration to
spearhead the federal govenment programme to rapidly Develop The NigerDelta
Region of Nigeria, TheOil Region. I have decided to use my discretion to
nominate you as a resouce person who can assist to manage an investment
portfolio worth $38.5 million u.s.dollars.This funds have been deliberately
set aside as a springboard to secure our financial future .
I am working with a Select team,they are my partners in this project .The
total amount that we are looking at is about $100.million u.s.dollars. we
are handling this instalmentally and we intend to invest jointly . This
investment portfolio will be managed by you on behalf of all of us who are
stake holders in this project .
We therefore need your kind assistance to transfer and manage this sum of
USD $38.5m to your account anywhere very safe. We shall compensate you with
20% of the funds for your assistance after the transfer. We the officials
here shall have 75% while 5% will be set aside for any incidental expenses.
Please note that this transaction is absolutely risk-free on both sides
since we are using our positions to facilitate it. All Logistics has been
carefully mapped out. We however demand that you keep the transaction to
yourself only until funds are wired to your account. You need to send us
urgently the particulars of your company(if any) and Bank account where the
funds will be transferred preferably an off-shore account.
As soon as we receive this, we shall commence the process and it is expected
to take 14 working days for the complete transfer to be effected.In
subsequent transctions, you will have to registar a company with the
commission and leave details to me. Due to confidentiality of this
transaction ,We would communicate via e-mail.
please let me have your thoughts.

IAN REED


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