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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: "sam okud" <okudzz3@gmail.com>
Reply-To: okudzz@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:35:49 -0700
Subject: GOOD NEWS


From: Mr. Sam Okudzeto
Director Bills & Exchange
BANK OF GHANA .

Good day,
I am Mr. Sam Okudzeto, the Director Bills & Exchange .
I personally discovered a dormant account with a total
sum of $39,000,000.00 (THIRTY NINE MILLION UNITED
STATE DOLLARS) during our Bank's Annual Year Account
Auditing.
The owner of this dormant account died on 4th Jan
2005. Since the death of the deceased, nobody has
operated in this account till date. Moreover, this
account has NO BENEFICIARY attached to it. Definitely,
this fund will be confiscated by our BANKING CODE OF
ETHICS if it remains dormant for a period of (3) years
without any claims. In this regard, I earnestly need
your full cooperation in transferring this dormant
fund out of our bank to avoid confiscating this fund.
I will split the transfer into two 2 stages for easy
and smooth transfer.
First, I will transfer $9,000,000.00 to any valid
foreign account you will nominate, upon a successful
transfer without any disappointment from your side, I
will then fly to meet you in your home destination for
sharing, and thereafter we jointly transfer the
remaining balance of $30,000,000.00 for magnitude
investments.
If you are willing to cooperate in this project, I
will give you details immediately as soon as I hear
from you. Please note that you are required to keep
very confidential

Yours truly,
Mr. Sam Okudzeto
Director Bills & Exchange
BANK OF GHANA

Anti-fraud resources: