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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: "Frank Nweke (Jr)" <franknwke212@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2010 11:24:02 +0100
Subject: I expect your reply

Dear Friend,

I have a proposal for you - this however is not mandatory nor will I in any
manner compel you to honor against your will. I am 50 years, married and
father of three children. I work with a bank as Director of Bills and
Exchange.

Here in our bank there is an existing dormant account for the past 8 years
which belong to a late customer (Mr. Arthur Billings Mrs. Barbara Billings)
who died on Egypt Air Flight 990. Kindly see the website below:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/502503.stm

When I discovered that there had been no deposits or withdrawals from this
account for this long period, I decided to carry out a system investigation
and discovered that, none of his family member or relation is aware of this
account. This is the story in a nutshell.

Now, I want an account overseas where the bank will transfer these funds.
Thereafter, I had planned to destroy all related documents for this account.
It is a careful network and for the past eleven months, I have worked out
everything to ensure a hitch-free operation. The amount is not so much at
the moment and plus all the accumulated Interest the balance in this account
stands at (10.7M US$).

My questions are:

1. Can you handle this project?
2. Can I give you this trust?
3. What will be your commission?

If you can sponsor this transfer, consider this and get back to me as soon
as possible. Finally, it is my humble prayer that the information as
contained herein been accorded the necessary attention, urgency as well as
the secrecy it deserves.

I Expect your urgent response if you can handle this project via this email
address.

Respectfully yours,
Mr. Frank Godwin-Nweke

Anti-fraud resources: