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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: "Peterson John" <sonjohn22@msn.com>
Reply-To: peterson_joh@o2.pl
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 10:23:07 +0000
Subject: CONTRACTOR

Office of the Financial Controller
Fedeal Ministry Agriculture,
Lagos Nigeria.
Email: peterson_joh@o2.pl

Attn: President/CEO

PLEASE STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL REQUEST FOR
URGENT BUSINESS TRANSACTION.

I am Dr. John Peterson, The financial controller
of Federal Ministry Agriculture (FMA) Headquarters
lagos. I am writing on behalf of my
colleagues in the Ministry and have been assigned
to seek for the assistance of a reliable
foreign company through which we can transfer
the sum of THIRTY MILLION U.S DOLLARS ONLY
(US$30,000,000). This money is deposited in the
FMA Treasury account.

ORIGIN OF THE FUND: This sum arose from the
deliberated over-invoicing of contract awarded by
my ministry to foreign firm in the twilight days
of the last military regime. This contract has
been completely executed and commissioned and the
contractor that handled this contract has
collected his full and final payment thus
leaving behind the above stated amount which
represent the over invoiced sum. We have been
safeguarding this money for conducive time for
it's transfer out of the country for our
personal use. However, the code of employment does
not allow us (civil servants) to own and
operate foreign account and because the contract
was handled by aforeign firm and the payment
made in dollars, we now need a foreign partner
that will present himself as the sub-contractor
so that the fund will be transfer into your
company's or personal account.Your address was
made available to us by a very good friend who
work with the Nigeria export promotion council
and he assured us of your company's viability
and capability in business transaction. This
assurance gave us the courage to link you up in
this particular transaction and I hope it will
be of mutual benefit to all of us. Note that
the nature of your business is not particularly
relevant to the success of the transaction. All
we require is your willingness to present
yourself as the subcontractor by providing your
bank information so that the fund will be
transferred into your account.

SHARING RATIO:For your assistance in this
business , your share will be 30% of the total
fund. I and my colleagues will take 60% while
we set aside 10% for any expenses that may
incurred in the course of this transaction. If
you are willing to assist us in this
business.Forward the particulars of your bank account
and also your private phone and fax numbers.
This information will enable us put an
application for payment approval to the concerned
Ministries and final to the Central Bank of
Nigeria (C.B.N) and it is going to last for
6-7 working days starting from the day we
receive the above information. All modalities for
the take -off of this transaction have been
worked out and further action will commence
immediately we hear from you. I am waiting for
your reply via my private email address
peterson_joh@o2.pl

Yours faithfully,

Dr. John Peterson


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