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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: "JOHN KELLY" <jkelly_44@msn.com>
Reply-To: kaylan@gawab.com
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 02:41:34 +0000
Subject: BE OUR CONFIDANT

NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION PETROLEUM AND PROJECT DIVISION.
FALOMO PLAZA, SUITE B234,
LAGOS- NIGERIA

BE OUR CONFIDANT

ATTN: FRIEND,

This letter is not intended to cause any embarrassment in whatever form,
rather is compelled to contact your esteemed self, following the knowledge
of your high repute and trustworthiness.

Please I want you to patiently read this my offer and make up your mind
whether you will accept it or not. I am JOHN KELLY (MR) and I head a seven
man tender board in charge of contract awards and payment approvals, I came
to know of you in search of a reliable and reputable person to handle a very
confidential business transaction which involves the transfer of a
huge sum of money to a foreign account requiring maximum confidence.

My colleagues and I are top officials of the MAINTENANCE OF THE REFINERIES
IN ALL THE DESIGNATED NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION {NNPC}.OUR
DUTIES INCLUDE VETTING, EVALUATION AND FORESEEING THE OIL PIPELINES.

We are therefore soliciting for your assistance to enable us transfer into
your account the said funds. Our country losses a lot of money everyday that
is why the international community is very careful and warning their
citizens to be careful but I tell you A TRIAL WILL CONVINCE YOU.

The source of the fund is as follows; during the last military regime here
in Nigeria this committee awarded a contract of US$400million to a group of
five construction companies on behalf of the NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM
CORPORATION for the construction of the oil pipelines in Kaduna, Port
Harcourt, Warri refineries.

During this process my colleagues and I deliberately inflated the total
contract sum to the tune US$429million with the intention of sharing the
inflated sum of US$29million.

The government has since approved the sum of US$429million for us as the
contract sum,but since the contract is only worth US$400million, the
remaining US$29million is what we intend to transfer to reliable and safe
offshore account, we are prohibited to operate foreign account in our names
since we are still in government. Thus, making it impossible for us to
acquire the money in our name right now, I have therefore been delegated as
a matter of trust by my colleagues to look for an oversea partner into whose
account we can transfer the sum of US$29million.

My colleagues and I have decided that if you/your company can be the
beneficiary of this funds on our behalf, you or your company will retain 25%
of the total sum US$29million while 70% will be for us the officials and
remaining 5% will be used for offsetting all debts/expenses incurred during
this transaction.

CONDITIONS
We have decided that this transaction can only proceed under the following
conditions:
A.That you treat this transaction with utmost secrecy and confidentiality
and conviction of your transparent honesty.

B.That upon the receipt of the funds you will release the funds as
instructed by us after you have removed your share of 20%.

Please acknowledge the receipt of this letter using the above telephone and
fax numbers. I will bring you into the nomenclature of this transaction when
I have hear from you. Your urgent response will be highly appreciated as we
catching on the next payment schedule for the financial quarter. Please be
assured that this transaction is 100% legal/risk free, only trust can make
the reality of this transaction.

Best Regards,
JOHN KELLY.


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