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: Gabriel Addo <gabrieladdo36@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Oct 2012 12:48:22 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: My pleasure to meet you!

Best regards!

My name is Mr. Gabriel Addo. I am a banker here in Ghana. I got your contact from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of International Trade and Industry. I need your help to transfer the sum of US$7, 500,000.00 into your account as my foreign partner.

The money is part of the profits made by our bank last year (i.e. 2011) in the branch which i am the manager. I have already submitted annual report for last year to my bank headquarters in Accra - Ghana, and they did not notice the excess profits. I deposited the US$7, 500,000.00 in an escrow account without a beneficiary (Anonymous), to avoid any trace.

I cannot be directly connected to this fund because I'm still working with the bank. So, I need your help to transfer this funds to your country for you and i to share. I offer you 40% of this funds as my foreign partner and 60% will be for me. There is no risk involved because it will be a bank-to-bank transfer. All I need from you is to stand as my foreign partner and owner of the funds to enable you present a foreign bank account where the funds will be transferred to.

If you accept this proposal, I am prepared to go into partnership with you. Please kindly reply to me for more information on how to proceed.

Sincerely,
Mr. Gabriel Addo.
+23324-065-7513.

Anti-fraud resources: