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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: COLLINS FREEMAN <fr_cll_ae@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: cll_freeman_ae@myway.com
Date: Thu, 03 May 2007 20:14:40 +0400
Subject: I NEED YOUR URGENT RESPONSE


Hello

We want to transfer out of the country the sum of Ten Million United
States
Dollars ($10,000,000.00) from Ghana.
I want to ask you to kindly look for a reliable,capable and honest
person who
will be fit to provide either an existing bank account or to set up a
new bank
account immediately to receive this money,though an empty bank account
or new
account could serve this purpose as long its valid and outside my
country and
more so that you will remain honest to me till the end of this
important
business trusting in you and believing in God that you will never let
me down
either now or in time to come.
I am collins freeman,the external auditor of a Bank.During the course of
our
auditing,I discovered a floating fund in an account opened in the bank
in 1990
and since 1993 nobody has operated on this account again.After going
through
some old files in the records, I discovered that the owner of the
account died
without a Heir apparent to the throne, hence the money is floating and
if I do
not remit this money out urgently it will be forfeited for nothing.
I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this money can not be
approved
to a local account because since the original owner was a foreigner
too, thus
the money could only be approved into a foreign account.As a matter of
urgency,I will inform you the next step to take,when you indicate your
willingness and capability to go ahead in the business.I need your full
co-
operation to make this business a success,because the management is
ready to
approve this payment to any foreigner who has correct information of
this
account,which I will give to you,upon your positive response and once I
am
convinced that you are capable and will meet up with the instructions
of a key
bank official who is deeply involved with me in this business.I need
your
strong assurance that you will never let me down.
To prove the authenticity of the business I will use my position and
influence
to obtain all legal approvals for onward transfer of this money to your
account with appropriate clearance from the relevant ministries,foreign
exchange departments, embassy and Board of Internal Revenue Services.
At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 35% of the total
amount,60% will be for me,while 5% will be for expenses both parties
might
have incurred during this process.
I look forward to your earliest reply through my private email address collins_freeman@myway.com

Yours truly
Collins Freeman.

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