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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: Matooq Bakoosh <matooq_bakoosh3@att.net>
Reply-To: maatooqbanker@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2011 10:52:29 -0800 (PST)
Subject: How are You ?


From: The Desk of Mr.Matooq Bakoosh,
Accountant,
United Bank for
Africa Ghana
Limited
Abossey Okai Branch,
Accra-Ghana.

I
am Mr.Matooq Bakoosh,a citizen of SAUDIA ARABIA JEDDAH who lives and
work

in Republic of Ghana with United Bank for
Africa (Ghana
Branch)
as an Accountant,as you might not know me very well but by
the end of this
transaction you shall be thankful knowing somebody
like me. During the
end of our auditing of accounts at my branch Bank
last year ending, I
came across a ghost account, in which the
account reads the sum of
$31,500,000.00 ( Thirty-One Million,Five
Hundred Thousand United States
Dollars ).
 
I continued in my
search and discovered that this said account was
owned by one of our
deceased customers and there was no next of kin
affixed at the time
of the deposit.Although
personally i kept this
information’s secret within myself to enable
the whole plan and idea
be profitable and successful during execution
and it’s my obligations
to send my  financial reports to our
headquarters’ in Accra.
Before
then i decided to
place this money in what we call SUSPENSE account
without
any beneficiary.as
a Senior Officer in the Bank I cannot
directly claim this money here
in Accra, on this ground I contact you
for us to work together, so
that you can assist and receive this money
at any of your nominated Bank account
for
us to share.
 
I have so placed this fund
for the sharing 40% for you  50% for i and
the remaining 10% for any
miscellaneous expenses in the course of the
transaction. I will also
want you to understand that it is 100% risk
free and legally
blinded. It will strictly be bank to bank transfer;
all I need from
you is to represent the real depositor of this
fund
in our bank, so that my head office can order the transfer to
your
designated bank account.
 
However, if my offer is granted
by you, please do furnish me with the
following information’s:Your
Full name,Occupation/Position,
Contact/Mailing Address, Date of
Birth,Place
of Birth, Marital Status,Gender, Educational Status,
Tel/Fax
Numbers,Nationality,Name of Your Next of Kin and Tel/E-mail
address,to
enable me fix them  in our account data file, so that you
will be
recognized in our bank as a customer before the onward
transfer will
be made.Attached files are my passport photograph,Staff
Identity Card
for your perusal.
 
Best Regards,
Matooq
Bakoosh
+233243601243

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