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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "edward johnson" <edward_johnson77@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: edwardjo13@excite.com
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 15:50:28 -0400
Subject: From: EDWARD JOHNSON

From: EDWARD JOHNSON
To: edwardjo13@excite.com
Subject: dear friend

send reply to edwardjo13@excite.com
Dear Sir,

Permit me to inform you of my desire of going into
business relationship with you. I got your name and
contact from the Ivorian chamber of commerce and
industry. I prayed over it and selected your name
among other names due to its esteeming nature and the
recommendations given to me as a reputable and
trustworthy person that I can do business with and by
the recommendation, I must not hesitate to confide in
you for this simple and sincere business.

I am EDWARD JOHNSON, the only son of late Mr and Mrs
KONEH JOHNSON. My father was a very wealthy cocoa
merchant in Ivory Coast, the economic capital of Ivory
Coast, my father was poisoned to death by his business
associates in one of their outings on a business trip.

My mother died when I was a baby and since then, my
father took me so special. Before the death of my
father on November 2004 in a private hospital in
Abidjan, he secretly called me on his bedside and told
me that he has the sum of eighteen million, five
hundred thousand US dollars (US$18,500,000) left in a
fixed / suspense account in one of the prime banks
here in Accra Ghana, that he used my name as his only son
for the next of kin in depositing the fund. He also
explained to me that it was because of this wealth
that he was poisoned by his business associates. That
I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my
choice where I will transfer this money and use it for
investment purpose such as real estate management or
hotel management.

Sir, I am honourably seeking your assistance in the
following ways:
1) To provide a bank account into which this money
would be transferred to.
2) To serve as a guardian of this fund since I am only
21 years old
3) To make arrangement for me to come over to your
country to further my education and to secure a
resident permit for me in your country.

Moreover, Sir, I am willing to offer you 15% of the
total sum as compensation for your effort/input after
the successful transfer of this fund into your
nominated account overseas.

Furthermore, you indicate your options towards
assisting me as I believe that this transaction would
be concluded within fourteen (14) days you signify
interest to assist me.

Anticipating to hear from you soon.

Thanks and God bless!

Best regards,
EDWARD JOHNSON.

edwardjo13@excite.com


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