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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: "Barr Alex Kojo" <dd_associate01@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 05 Sep 2005 13:38:32 +0000
Subject: REPLY BACK.

Hon Barrister Alex Kojo.
(Attorneys & Counselor at Law)
Federal High Court, Accra
Ghana Republic.
White-House Building Cresent

Respected Friend,

Compliments, I am Barrister Alex Kojo, i have decided to bestow this trust
on you, which I pray you will not ignore or betray. I apologise for any
inconveniences this may cause you. I am the Personal Attorney to late
Mr.Howard Smith of Norway, who was a contractor here in Republic of Ghana.
Late Mr Howard Smith died alongside with his family in the ill-fated plane
crash involving a Boeing 727 UTA chartered flight that took off from
Cotonou, Republic of Benin and crashed into the atlantic ocean on Thursday,
25 December 2003.

As a matter of fact, my client made a fixed deposit Amount, valued at
(USD$5.6M) with International Commercial Bnak of Ghana Ltd. here in Accra
Ghana Republic before his untimely death, and upon the duration time of
their agreement his bank started contacting him but no response.
Consequently, the bank issued me a notice to provide the next of kin to the
deceased as his personal attorney, or have his account confiscated after
three years, as it is in the law of this country. Since then, I have made
several contacts to his country embassy in order to locate any of my clients
extended relatives, which had also been unsuccessful. So since I have been
unsuccessful in locating his relative for over two years now, I seek your
consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since all of his
relation were no way to be found so that the proceeds closing this account
valued at (USD$5.6M) could be transferred into your account.

There after, we will both share it in percentage according to our
contributions to boost the success of this great transaction. I have all the
necessary legal documents that can be used to back up all the claims we will
make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us make this great
benefiting transaction successful. I guarantee that this will be executed
under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the
law. Please get in touch with me as soon as possibles to enable us discuss
further the progress of this business.

With best regards,

Barrister Alex Kojo.
Esq, senior advocate of Ghana (SAGH)

_________________________________________________________________
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