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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: "epid" <epid@aspms.ro>
Reply-To: malamusman0011@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 15:08:20 +0300
Subject: IMPORTANT MESSAGE!


Dear Sir/Madam.

Though, this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I choose to reach
you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of communication
I am Malam Usman,Manager in Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) since my
assumption of office, I have been able to offset most Overdue contract sums
owed by the Government of Ghana to Foreign contractors in
the past years. In the process of these payments, I discovered through
investigation that my predecessor moved out $8.5M (eight million Five
hundred thousand united state dollars) outside but was unable to conclude
the transaction before he was removed out of office unaware and the bank
codes changed.
The fund originated from the balance of over-invoiced sum and inflated
government contracts of which the principal sum had been paid to foreign
contractors that executed their contract some years ago. This fund is now
floating in a suspense account of our bank and will be moved by telegraphic
transfer within 48 hours of perfection of your account
coordinates.

I have concluded all necessary Arrangements for the TRANSFER of the money to
an account, Contacting you on this issue became imperative to owing to the
fact that the transfer cannot be affected without a second party account and
receiving Bank Code and SWIFT numbers. Therefore, what is required from you
is trust and honesty. No travel is required; I will forward an account where
my share will be further transferred to when the money reaches your bank. At
the moment I can only give information that is reasonably able to assist the
transaction without jeopardize my person, work or this transaction? Please
send detail information,

1 your full names................................................
2, your telephone/fax numbers............................
3, Occupation .......................................................
4, age/sex............................................................
5, marital status...................................................
6, Nationality.....................................................

You can email now to indicate your willingness. Thanks in advance for a
mutual and fruitful Business association.
Regards
Malam Usman

Anti-fraud resources: