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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:

Fraud email example:

From: Mr.Patrick Mensah <patrr5s@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:54:19 +0000
Subject: Important Message From The Royal Bank Please Reply Urgently


Dear
Friend,

I know that this message will come
to you as a surprise since we don't know each other before, but for purpose of
introduction, I am Mr. Patrick L Mensah a Bank Manager of The Royal Bank Ghana.
There is an account opened in this bank in the year 2004 and since 2006 nobody
has operated on this account again.

After going through some old files in the records, I
discovered that if I do not remit this money out urgently it would be forfeited
for nothing.

The owner of this account is Mr. Bill Blake a
foreigner and a doctor by profession he own one of the biggest hospital in Accra
Ghana, but he died since 2004. No other person knows about this account or any
thing concerning it, the account has no other beneficiary and my investigation
proved to me as well that his company does not know anything about this account
and the amount involved is (USD5.5M) Five Million Five Hundred Thousand United
States Dollars.

I am only contacting you as a foreigner because this
money cannot be approved to a local bank here, but can only be approved to any
foreign account because the money is in US Dollars and the former owner of the
account is Mr. Bill Blake is a foreigner too. I know that this message will come
to you as a surprise as we don't know ourselves
before.

We will sign an agreement, but be
sure that it is real and a genuine business. Please reply urgently so that I
will inform you the next step to take immediately. Send also your private
telephone and fax number including the full details as in your resident address,
age and your full name.

AS Soon as the fund gets into your account I will fly
to your country for the withdrawal of the fund and sharing and to discus other
investments plans. At the conclusion of this business, you will be given 40% of
the total amount, 60%will be for me.

Awaiting your urgent reply
to this email above, Please save me the anxiety of endless waiting.
Please respond to this private Email patrickxiangprivate@yahoo.co.jp

I look forward to your earliest as
possible.

Yours Faithfully,

Mr.Patrick Mensah
(Bank Manager)

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