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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.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: attorney frank <okohfrank2@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Aug 2006 07:14:53 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: hello


Law Chamber Principal Attorney
Okoh Frank & Associates
44, Kofo Abayomi Avenue,
Victoria Island,
Lagos-Nigeria.
Dear Friend,
Kindly accept my apology for sending unsolicited mail to you. I believe
you are
a highly respected personality, considering the fact that I sourced
your
profile from a human resource profile database on your country. Though,
I do
not know to what extent you are familiar with events.
Well, I am Barrister Okoh Frank, a Solicitor. I am the Personal
Attorney to Mr.
Steve A. who used to work with Agip Oil Company in Nigeria. On the 21st
of
April 2004, his wife and their three children were involved in a car
accident
along Abuja Express Road.
Unfortunately, they all lost their lives in the event of the accident.
Since
then I have made several enquiries to your Embassy to locate any of my
client's
relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful. After these several
unsuccessful
attempts, I decided to trace his relatives over the Internet to locate
any
member of his family but to no avail, hence, I contacted you to assist
in
repatriating the money left behind by my client in a Bank.
Particularly, the
Finance House where the deceased deposited the US$15 Million (Fifteen
Million
United States Dollars only) knows me very well and has ask me to
present some
one to claim the fund left my late client as they all know I am his
attorney.
Consequently, this Bank issued me a notice to provide the Next of Kin
to claim
the US$15 Million (Fifteen Million United States Dollars only) in their
custody
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 to claim the fund as the Next of Kin
to him
so that the Bank will transfer the fund to your account.
Upon receipt of the fund, I will come over to your country to meet with
you for
the disbursement of the fund and then you and I will share the money in
this
order: 70% will be for me, 30% will be for you. I have all the
necessary legal
documents that can back our claim we may make with the Bank.
All I require is your honest co-operation 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.
Best regards.
Okoh Frank
Principal Attorney
PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS:okohfrank2@yahoo.com


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