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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Angelina Wallewa" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <angelina.walle@yahoo.ie>
Date: Thu, 13 Jun 2013 01:54:27 -0300
Subject: Bank transfer

ECOWAS BANK FOR INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
FOREIGN OPERATIONS BUREAU
Old Broad Street
London EC2N 2DP
UNITED KINGDOM
Sir,
Subject: Seeking your co-operation to transfer Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars inheritance funds to your bank account.
My name is Angelina Wallewa, a banker by profession. I am the Director Foreign Operations Bureau of the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development London. I am contacting you to entreat your co-operation with regards to my deceased client Mr. Josef Goonson. Permit me to inform you that Mr. Josef Goonson was a prospective investor in ECOWAS Liquefied Natural Gas export project, he has a fixed deposit account balance of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States dollars in ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development Foreign Operations Bureau London before his sudden tragic death. He was on vacation with his girl friend in Japan during the devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake that triggered tsunami through Kesennuma City in Miyagi Prefecture Japan on Friday 11th March 2011 that destroyed the city.
In addition, I was his personal bank account supervisor and all the information concerning his transactions is in my custody. However, all effort to locate any of his family members since the tragic incident has seemingly become an impossible task it then became obvious to me that Mr. Josef Goonson has nobody to inherit these funds. Therefore this is a matter of utmost importance and urgency which I thereby sincerely implore you to accept these inheritance funds into your private bank account as a Next of Kin to Mr. Josef Goonson. The documentation of the swift transfer of this inheritance funds to your preferred bank account will be duly certified in your name through legal court paperwork so that it will be an absolute legitimate transaction. I do not wish to declare these huge sums of money as an unclaimed deposit which will just be forfeited to top corrupt politicians through the government treasury, as a staff of the bank I cannot personally claim these funds, hence my main reason to seek your assistanc
It is also important to note that by virtue of my status, is rest assured that this transaction is 100% risk-free. Meanwhile, if you have any question please feel free to ask me for more clarification. You are requested to send to me your private telephone number immediately you receive this mail to enable us open up discussions on this subject matter without further waste of time.
Best regards,
Ms Angelina Wallewa.
 

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