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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "ken chigoziem" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kenchigoziem@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Sep 2011 06:24:07 +1000
Subject: IMPORTANT MESSAGE
From Dr.Ken Chigoziem.
Nigeria National Petroleun Corporation
P.O Box 6543 Victoria Island, Lagos
Nigeria
Dear Sir
My name is Dr.Ken Chigoziem . It is my pleasure to write this mail
basically to seek your consent on transaction which involves transfer of an
over-invoiced sum of money from my ministry to your bank account. The amount
involved is US$20million. I am a member of the Contract Award Committee
(CAC) in my ministry Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). The
amount was intentionally over-invoiced for our benefit. We have worked
carefully to secure the approval of the fund since the original contract
value has been paid on completion of the contract in 2010. Then the
remaining balance of the US$20million is what we intend to transfer secretly
to you using your bank account details.
The civil service code of conduct does not allow any serving officer to
operate a foreign bank account, we are seriously handicapped to transfer the
fund to an offshore account hence this contact to you. It is on this basis
that I thought it wisely to use a foreigner to receiver the fund for our
mutual benefit. We shall draw an agreement to back up this transaction and
also to spell out our duties, sharing modalities and safety of the fund in
your bank account.
If you are interested, please send the informations as stated below
(1) YOUR FULL NAME....................................
(2) HOME OR OFFICE ADDRESS................................
(3) YOUR PHONE & FAX NUMBER...................
(4) BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS...................................
Summarily, there is no single risk involve having taken care of all forms of
obstacles that would pose some risks in the deal. To avoid taking things for
granted. The transaction will be processed legitimately with all legal proof
on the execution of the contract.
Regards,
Dr.Ken Chigoziem
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