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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: =?gb2312?q?koku=20tofa?= <koku_tofa@yahoo.com.cn>
Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 03:28:16 +0800 (CST)
Subject: BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP


ÎÒÓÐÒ»¸öеĵçÓʵØÖ·ÁË£¡ÄúÏÖÔÚ¿ÉÒÔ·¢µç×ÓÓʼþ¸øÎÒµ½£ºkoku_tofa@yahoo.com.cn

From the desk of Mr koku tofa,

manager, credit and foreign bills

of Islamic Development Bank.

1214 rue boulevard Cotonou.

contact me on my private

E-mail:(mrkoku_tofa@walla.com)




Dear friend,

I have the pleasure to make this surprising but mutually benefiting business proposal. It is indeed my pleasure to write to you this letter, which I believe will be a suprise, as we are both complete strangers. I am Mr koku tofa, the manager, credit and foreign bills of Islamic Development Bank. I am writing in respect of a foreign customer of my bank with account number 4401992100021 who was involved in Tsunami victim on decemeber 2004 which claimed lives of peoples. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin or relatives to come over and claim his money because we cannot release it unless somebody applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased as indicated in our banking guidelines. On this note, I decided to seek your concent as whom his name shall be used as the next of kin since no one has come up as his relation. I am contacting you because you have the same surname name with the deceased which is a laid down procedure in the financial institution for a situation like this and it is a basic requirement for you to successfully claim the funds. What bothers me most is that according to the LAW of my country, after two (2) years expiration this funds will revert to the ownership of this country if nobody applies to claim the funds. So, since I am the only person to decided who is his next of kin I seek your concent to present you since you have the requirement needed for making the claim. Upon the receipt of your response, I will send to you the application form and the bank's contact and the next step to take. I will not fail to bring to your notice that this business is hitch free and that you should not entertain any fear as all modalities for fund transfer can be finalized within five banking days, after you apply to the bank as a relation to the deceased. When you receive this letter. Kindly send me an e-mail:to (mrkoku_tofa@walla.com )signifying your decision. Including your private Tel/Fax numbers for quick communication. I will be very happy if you can treat this business with the utmost secrecy it demands because of my position in this bank. Hoping for a very successful business relationship with you. Respectfully submitted, Mr koku tofa,



- koku tofa


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