joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: Dr.Collin Mtakane <cmtakane09@sify.com >
Reply-To: cmtakoane_16@earthlink.net
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2008 09:00:27 -0700
Subject: URGENT & CONFIDENTIAL



From: Dr.Collin Mtakane.

I am Dr.Collin Mtakane, Director of Project with the South Africa Department =
of
Minerals and Energy. I am making this contact with you based on the
Committee need for an individual/company who is willing to assist us
with a solution to a money transfer.

This amount $31.5m represents the balance of the total contract Value
Executed on behalf of Department by a foreign contracting firm, which
we the officials over-invoiced deliberately, of which the actual sum
has been paid.

Should you be willing to assist us in the transaction, your share of
the sum will be 25% of the $31,500,000.00, 70% for us and 5% for taxation
and miscellaneous expenses.

To enable us commence, I will need your personal telephone/fax number.
Please send your response to cmtakane09@sify.com
I await your immediate response.
Best Regards,

Dr.Collin Mtakane

Anti-fraud resources: