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: Kenneth Wassi <kennethwassi@cantv.net>
Date: 26 May 2010 13:00:58 +0200
Subject: My second mail to you

My name is Mr. Kenneth Wassi; I work in one of the prime banks in Ivory Coast . I seek for your assistance to transfer of a large sum of money from a dormant account. I am the personal accounts manager to a late customer of ours who used to run an oil servicing company here in Ivory Coast . He was involved in an air crash in the coasts of Abidjan in January 2000. Since then I had made several attempts to locate any of his extended relatives but was unsuccessful before I decided to trace his last name over the internet hence I contacted you. Recently a probate order has been issued and as such if nobody comes for the claim of the deposit by the last quarter of this year, the account will be declared unserviceable and the funds called to the government treasury. I now seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased since you have the same last name so that the proceeds of this account be released and transferred into your account, then you and I will share the money. The account is valued at about Thirteen million, three hundred and twelve thousand four hundred and ten US dollars (US$13,312,410.00). I guarantee that this will be executed under all legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. If you can handle this with me, in your response I will require the following; 1. Your full name 2. Postal address 3. Age 4. Telephone and fax numbers. This information will enable me work on the account file so that you can now apply for the release of the funds as the next of kin. Thanking you for your anticipated cooperation. Mr. Kenneth Wassi

Anti-fraud resources: