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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: <ggoboh@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:53:22 -0400
Subject: PROPOSITION

Dear Sir/Madam
I am Greg Oboh branch Manager of a Bank in Lagos Nigeria.Iam contacting you to assist in the claim of some outstanding sum of money which was left by one of
my very good clients who died in a AF4590 plane crash on his way to america after he left nigeria to germany for business.
This client Christian Eich was an engineer with one of the foremost construction firms here in Nigeria. He left no known next of kin and all our attempts to trace someone related to him to whom we could pay the money proved abbortive.I have now personally decided to contact you to stand on behalf of the family so I can present you as his next of kin using my influence as a Manager of this bank.
The amount involved is USD11 million (Eleven million United States Dollars) which is the account balance.You can view the website for more details on the death of the man
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
I contacted you because it is against our code of ethics to own and operate a foreign accounts and your assistance would be needed to claim the money .I have agreed that 30% of the entire sum would be for you if you agree to take part in this profitable transaction,65% for me while the remaining 5% would be used to pay back the expenses that may be incurred during the course of the transaction by both parties after the fund has been
claimed as the next of kin.
YHou should send me the following information:
1. Your full names
2. Your mailing address
3. Your private telephone and fax number
Upon the receipt of the above information I shall send you more details.

I look forward to hearing from you asap
Yours faithfully
Greg Oboh.


Anti-fraud resources: