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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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "OLABODE JAMES" <olajames@msn.com>
Date: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 22:19:55 +0000
Subject: INFORMATION FOR THE FAMILIES OF ENGR. ALLEN.

>From the desk of;
Mr. Olabode James,
Account Officer/ Auditor,
Trust Fund Bank Plc.

Good day Sir/Ma,

I am an Account Officer with TRUST FUND BANK PLC; my name is James Olabode,
a Banker. I am the personal Account Manager to late Engineer .A. Allen who
is a National of your country, who used to work with an Oil servicing Firm
in Nigeria. Here in after shall be referred to as my client, my client
passed on as a result of a ghastly motor accident along side with his wife
and two kids on the 21st day of April,2003.

After these several unsuccessful attempts in locating any of his relatives,
distant or near, I decided to trace his name over the Internet, to locate
any member of his family hence I contacted you. I have contacted you to
assist me in repatriating the money and property left behind by my
client before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank
where these huge deposits were lodged, particularly the TRUST FUND BANK PLC.
Where the deceased had an account Valued at about ($3.2 million US dollars)
has issued me a notice to provide the next of kin, or have the account
confiscated within the next ten official working days.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years
now, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased
since I have being able to locate his deposit certificate while going
through some of his documents which he left behind with the said amount with
our bank, Trust Fund Bank Plc so that this account valued at ($ 3.2 million
US dollars) can be paid to you in your foreign account.

All I require from you is your honest cooperation to enable us see this
transaction through as I have already drafted out the strategies in other to
enable us do this without too much problem. Please get in touch with me
through my private email address: olajames@msn.com. And do send me your
phone number for easy communication and the best time to reach you with the
below information;

Full name;
Contact address;
Phone # (office & home);
Age;
Sex;
Occupation;
Marital status;
Nationality;


Regards
James Olabode.


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