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

Fraud email example:

From: "Jimz Okoty" <contact_jimok@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: jimokotie@o2.pl
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2005 10:58:54 +0000
Subject: Progress in the new year!

Dear Sir,
 
My name is MR.JAMES OKOTIE. I am a Branch Manager with Standard Trust Bank of Nigeria (STB). I got your contact through one of our Bank customers who works with the local Chamber of Commerce, though I did not tell her my purpose of wanting your contact.
 
In the course of my duty, I discovered the sum of US$17M (Seventeen Million United States Dollars) in an abandoned account that belongs to one of our foreign customers,  Robert Ebner, who died in a plane crash november 1999. Please visit: www.sptimes.com/News/110299/Worldandnation/Passenger_list_for_Eg.shtml for your perusal.  Since we got the information of his death, we have been expecting any of his relatives to come forth and claim the money because the bank cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as the next of kin or relative to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines but could not get a link to any of his relations.
 
It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this businness proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased for safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming forth for it and it would not benefit anyone if the money is allowed to go into the bank's treasury and shared among our Bank Directors while we work under poor conditions.
 
Upon your response in principle, detailed information on the procedures of this transaction will be relayed to you while the disburement of the money will 20% for you and 70% for me and 10% to re-pay overhead expenses incurred by both parties in the course of the transaction. Please note that this transaction is hitch-free as it involves no risk whatsoever.
 
I await your earliest response.
 
My regards.
 
MR.JAMES OKOTIE
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