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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: "MR. JOSEPH AYO" <joseph12_ayo@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 19:23:49 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: *****SPAM***** ACKNOWLEDGE RECEIPT


Spam detection software, running on the system "radius2.beosms.com", has
identified this incoming email as possible spam. The original message
has been attached to this so you can view it (if it isn't spam) or label
similar future email. If you have any questions, see
the administrator of that system for details.

Content preview: -- ATTN, First, I must apologise to you for using this medium
to communicate to you about this project.I am a highly placed official of
Government of Nigeria and also a founding member of the ruling party Powernow,the
peoplesDemocraticParty(PDP).My committee - TheNiger Delta Development revenues
for the Nigerian government which covers payment to foreign and local contractors
who has executed contracts for our country.The revenues under our control
runs into several hundred of millions of dollars monthly.My self and other
colleagues in the NDDC are currently in need of a foreign partner with whose
bank account we shall transfer the sum of Forty Nine Million Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars($49.5m).This fund was accrued from various
over invoicing of foreign contractors payments made over the years. The Total
fund is presently waiting in the Government Account named CBN/FGN INDEPENDENT
REVENUE account number 400-939134 with J.P.MORGAN CHASE BANK,New York.You
can do your independent verification of this. However, by virtue of our position
as civil servants and members of the NDDC, we cannot acquire this funds in
our name. This is because as top civil servants, we are not allowed by law
of the land to own or operate bank accounts outside our country for now.
I have been delegated as a matter of trust by my colleagues,to look for an
overseas partner in whose account we would transfer the fund Hence the reason
for this mail.We shall be Transferring the money to your account with your
company as the beneficiary and you are been paid for a contract which you
executed for our country through the NDDC and any other Federal Ministry
that we decide to use to siphon the funds through.For your support and partnership,please
reply me to negotiate your fees or the percentage you wish to be paid when
the funds arrive your bank account.You must however note that this transaction,
with regards to our disposition to continue with you, is subject to these
terms. Firstly, our conviction of your transparency.Secondly, that [...]

Content analysis details: (9.1 points, 8.0 required)

pts rule name description
---- ---------------------- --------------------------------------------------
-1.8 ALL_TRUSTED Passed through trusted hosts only via SMTP
3.5 BAYES_99 BODY: Bayesian spam probability is 99 to 100%
[score: 1.0000]
2.1 SUBJ_ALL_CAPS Subject is all capitals
1.3 MISSING_HEADERS Missing To: header
1.5 MILLION_USD BODY: Talks about millions of dollars
1.2 ADVANCE_FEE_2 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
1.4 ADVANCE_FEE_3 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
0.6 ADVANCE_FEE_4 Appears to be advance fee fraud (Nigerian 419)
-0.8 AWL AWL: From: address is in the auto white-list



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