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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Ismael Gbagbo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ismgbagbo@gmx.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 5 Feb 2011 17:20:22 -0000
Subject: Request to Partner.

Good Day,
 
Very sorry to bother you at this time, my name is Ismael Gbagbo, i am the son of the Ivorian president Laurent
gbagbo, based on the crisis in my country presently, my family and i are under trait to leave the country by the
international community, my father called me and told me that he has a deposit of $52 million dollars deposited with
a local bank in the U.K, he asked me to go to United Kingdom and transfer the fund to a foreign beneficiary's
account for safe keeping and that is why i am contacting you to help me out. I have been in the UK now for the past
2days now under hiding with the son of the ambassador of Ivory coast to the UK who volunteered to lead me into
safety, i am confused at the moment and do not know what next to do in getting this fund transferred abroad.
 
I have confirmed that the fund is in the bank deposited by my father in my name as the beneficiary and next of kin,
but i am facing the problem of getting someone to accept to receive this fund for abroad and i am ready to offer a
commission that will satisfy you if you are willing and ready to help me go through this process, i need a
trustworthy person to handle this transaction because as you know i am must remain anonymous in this
whole transaction because of my status and the present problem my dad is going through now. I know you
might not have enough money to complete this transaction, so i am negotiating to get a loan from somewhere through
the help of my friend, if i succeed with that, everything will be handed over to you to enable you run the process.
 
You will need a very good and trusted lawyer to handle this for you, my friend will negotiate to get one if you no not
have a lawyer who can handle this transaction for us here in the U.K, please let me hear from you with
your reachable mobile number to proceed, i have limited time to complete this transaction and leave the UK
before i am suspected, expecting to hear from you ASAP.
 
Regards,
 
Ismael Gbagbo
 
ismgbagbo@gmx.co.uk

Anti-fraud resources: