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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: "SAM BERNARD" <sam_bernard360@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2005 03:55:04 +0000
Subject: BUSINESS ASSISTANCE

Good day to you. 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 Mr Sam Bernard, the Chairman of the contract Tenders Board of Nigeria
National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC). My committee has the responsibility
for the recommendation and award ofcontracts and supplies for the NNPC.
In the course of our assignment, we did over-inflate the contracts for some
supplies to the NNPC as a result of which the sum ofUSD $25.8m (Twenty five
million, Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only)is now
outstanding.

The original contractors who executed the jobs have since been fully paid
off,leaving this outstanding sum. Unfortunately, we as civil servants are
not
allowed to own or operate a foreign account and it is also not possible for
us to
withdraw the money here locally.

We therefore need your kind assistance to transfer this outstanding sum
of USD $25.8m to your account anywhere very safe. We shall compensate you
with 25% of the funds for your assistance after the transfer. We the
officials here shall have 65% while 10% 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 for a hitch free transaction. The new civilian
dispensation in Nigeria has given a most auspicious environment to do
the transaction and all the record will be removed and destroyed
immediately after the transfer. We however demand that you keep the
transaction to yourself only until the funds arrive in your account.

You need to send us urgently the particulars of your Private or company
bank account where the funds will be transferred. As soon as we receive
this, we shall commence the process and it is expected to take 5 working
days for thecomplete transfer to be effected. Send your response to my
e-mail
address above and include your private tel/fax number for ease of
communication.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Bernard.


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