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: Chika <chikaekeji2005@myguide.com>
Reply-To: chika2005@lycos.com
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2008 03:04:29 -0700
Subject: Reward/Urgent Reply


AUDITOR GENERAL Mr. Chika Ekeji, UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA(UBA)
GHANA WEST AFRICA
Dear Friend,

RE: TRANSFER OF US$15.200.000 00 MILLION INTO YOUR NOMINATED BANK
ACCOUNT. I feel quite safe dealing with you in this important
business.Though this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I
choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest
medium of communication.

However, this correspondence is private, and it should be treated
in strict confidence. At first I will like to assure you that this
transaction is 100% risk and trouble free to both parties, In order to
transfer out FIFTEEN MILLION TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS, (US$15.200
000 00) from our bank here in Africa .

The fund for transfer is of clean origin. The owner of the fund is
a foreigner, a program leader who was believed to acquire the fund
through his secret Crude Oil deal with the Former IRAQ government.

The deceased died with all the members of his family in
an
auto-accident in June 23, 2001 without a WILL. The amount involved is
US$15,200,000.00 I want to transfer this money into your account as
the foreign beneficiary of the fund.

I know that this letter will come to you as a surprise as we don't
know ourselves before, BUT BE SURE THAT IT IS REAL AND A GENUINE
BUSINESS. I CONTACT YOU BELIEVING THAT YOU WILL NOT LET ME DOWN ONCE
THE FUND GOES INTO YOUR ACCOUNT. Urgently waiting to hear from you.

Best Regards, Mr. Chika Ekeji.

Anti-fraud resources: