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: "Independent National Electoral Commission" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ak1579@live.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:56:21 +0100
Subject: Please, Kindly Assist.

Dear Friend,

My Compliment to you,

I guess this letter will come to you as a surprise since I had no previous correspondence with you. I am sending you this mail on behalf of the tender board of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman, Prof. Maurice Iwu. We came across your contact in our search for a reliable person to handle a very confidential transaction involving the transfer of Eleven Million, Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (US$11.7M).

The above fund is not connected with arms, drugs or money laundering, it is the product of an over invoiced contract awarded in 2005 by INEC to a foreign company for the supply of electronic voters machines needed for the 2007 general electoral registration.

The contract has just been executed and payment of the actual contract amount has been paid to the foreign contractor. The balance of the actual contract is what my colleague and I now want to transfer out of Nigeria into a reliable foreign account for our personal use.

If you are interested in the proposal kindly get back to me by sending me your letter of acceptance along with your direct telephone and fax numbers. For your support and partnership, please reply me to negotiate your fees or the percentage you wish to be paid when the funds are transferred into your bank account.

Further details about this transaction will be discussed in the subsequent correspondence. Note also that the particular nature of your business is irrelevant to this transaction and all local contacts and arrangements are in place for a smooth and successful conclusion of this transaction.


Thank you as I await your response.

Sincerely,

Abdullahi Kaugama.

Anti-fraud resources: