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: "Moritzben" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <moritzbentik2@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2011 17:37:43 -0800
Subject: Re:832061


Sir,

I am Moritz Bentik, a senior accounting officer of my Bank here in Accra . I write in good faith to solicit for your assistance in a financial transaction that will benefit both of us.

As a result this year's annual report, I discovered after auditing my bank's account that my branch made Four Million and Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($4,300,000.00) of which no one is aware of it as I have already submitted an approved annual report for the year 2011 to my head office. I have since placed this fund on a suspense account without beneficiary.

As an officer in the bank, I am not allowed to be directly connected to this fund hence I request for your assistance to receive it into your bank account. I intend to part with 30% of this fund as gratification to you while 70% will be for me but I need your own opinion about it.

There is practically no risk involved in this transaction. It will be a bank-to-bank transfer and i have already mapped out plans to execute it with the full co-operation of our database administrator who will provide us with the much needed information to give the transaction the required history as well as identify you as the depositor of this fund if you accept to go along with me.

All I need from you is to stand as the original depositor of this fund and provide an account where it could be transferred by our head office. I will appreciate your timely response as soon as you receive this mail with your full names and your telephone number for better explanation.

Regards,

Moritzben


Anti-fraud resources: