joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "mr smith okafor" <mrsmithokafor@msn.com>
Reply-To: personal_assistance01@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 13:21:13 +0000
Subject: REACH ME

PERSONAL ASSISTANT
AFRICAN PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT
COMPANY IN NIGERIA.
Dear Friend,
I know you will be so surprise to read this from me having not see/met me
before i made up my mind to contact you, after concluding that there is no
other way to reach you as i got your contact from web site/business
directory at the chambers of commerce and industry office.
I am Mr. Smith Okafor.a nigeria by Birth; I am the Personal Assistant to
late Mr. Gerald Stuart a foreigner (American), who was a contractor to
African Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria. On the 31st October, 1999,
Mr Gerald Stuart and his wife Barbara were involved in a fire accident right
in their resident very painful, may their souls rest in peace.
So unfortunately they both lost their lives, since then I have made several
enquiries to the American Embassy here and the home address he filled in his
file to locate any of his extended relatives are not valid. Since I have
never been to the U.S, everything has proved unsuccessful.
After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to use the Internet to
locate any member of his family, but to no avail, hence I contacted you. I
contacted you to assist in repatriating the money left behind by Mr. Gerald
Stuart before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Bank
where this huge money is deposited the FINANCE HOUSE where the deceased had
an account valued at about US$15.5M (fifteen million, five hundred thousand
dollars).
Consequently, the bank issued me a notice to provide the next-of- kin which
was his wife or have the account confiscated according to the law. Since I
have not been able to locate any of his relatives for over 3 years now, I
seek your consent to present you as the next-of-kin of the deceased since
you are also a foreigner so that the proceeds of this account valued at
US$15.5M can be paid to you and I.
We shall share the money thus: 60% to me and 30% to you, while 10% will be
used to re-imburse any expenses that might be incurred on both ends and to
service the Tax that might be incurred in your country. I have all the
necessary legal documents that will be adjusted to favor you and to back up
any claim we may make.
All I Require is your honest cooperation to enable us seeing this deal
through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Please contact
me through my email address:mr_smith_okafor01@yahoo.com
You are advice to send:
1.YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.
2.YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT.
3.YOUR MAILING ADDRESS.
4.YOUR COMPANY NAME/ADDRESS.
BEST REGARDS,
PERSONAL ASSISTANT.
Mr SMITH OKAFOR.


Anti-fraud resources: