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: "Anthony Obi" <fwatchuk@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 17:36:33 -0400
Subject: Re: message

TRANSACTION LETTER (VERY CONFIDENTIAL) FROM CHAIRMAN CONTRACT AWARD &
MONITORING COMMITTEE.

Sir,

This letter might come as a surprise to you especially since we have never met
or discuss before. Basically, the message might sound strange but it is
factual in reality if only you care to know. The truth is that I should have
notified you first through a more confidential means, (even if it's at least
to respect your integrity) please accept my humble apologies if I had caught
you unawares, i frankly do not mean any harm in passing my message.

We are members of the Special Committee for Budget and Planning of the
Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. This committee is principally
concerned with contract appraisal and the approval of contract in order of
priorities as regards capital projects of the federal executive government of
Nigeria with our positions we have successfully secured for ourselves the sum
of thirty million seven hundred thousand dollars (us$30.7M) the amount was
accumulated from the over invoice. Hence, together with some of the top
officials of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and the Federal
Ministry of Finance.

We plan to transfer this amount of money thirty million seven hundred thousand
dollars (us$30.7M) into an overseas account by awarding a non existing
contract from my ministry (NNPC). To this effect i decided to contact you and
ask for your assistance. What we need from you, is to provide a very vital
account in which the funds will be transferred. My colleagues and I have
agreed to compensate the owner of the account used for this transaction with
30% of the total amount remitted. We shall keep 68% and remaining 2% reserved
for taxes. Finally, the confidence and trust reposed on you cannot be over
emphasized.

Therefore, you are to keep this deal to yourself confidentially. Calibers of
personnel involved are men in government. So cannot effort to loose our
respective reputation to our dear country if jeopardize by you.

Contact me urgently with your private detail information for our easier
communication.
Best Regards
Mr.Anthony Obi
Chairman Contract Award & Monitoring Committee.

Anti-fraud resources: