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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: Willem Jacobus <wjacobus01@gmail.com>
Reply-To: wjacobus46@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2014 00:24:56 +0200
Subject: Hello


--
Greetings,

MY NAMES IS MR. WILLEM JACOBUS; A BANKER, PRESENTLY WORKING WITH ONE OF THE
LEADING BANK HERE IN AFRICA.

I would like to apply through this medium for your co-operation and to
secure an opportunity to invest and do joint business with your company or
as an individual in your country. I have the intention to invest with you,
into a very lucrative business venture of which you are to advise and
execute the said venture over there in your country or anywhere according
to the agreement between me and you for the mutual benefits of both of us.

Your able co-operation is to become my business partner and create ideas on
how money will be invested, properly managed and the type of investment
after the money is transferred to your account with your assistance.

NOTE; THE BELOW LETTER SHOULD BE TREATED AS A TOP SECRET BETWEEN ME AND YOU
ALONE.

It has been many years ago now that most of the greedy African Politicians
used our bank to launder money overseas through the help of their Political
advisers. Most of the funds which they transferred out of the shores of
Africa were money that was supposed to have been used to develop the
continent. Their Political advisers always inflated the amounts before
transfer to foreign accounts.

I acted as the Bank account Officer to most of the politicians and when I
discovered that they were using me to succeed in their greedy act; I also
cleaned some of their banking records from the Bank files and functional
units, no one cared to ask me because the money was too much for them to
control. They laundered about US$10 Billion Dollars during the process. I
also used the opportunity to divert part of the funds hence I am aware that
there is no official trace of how much was transferred as all the accounts
used for such transfers were being closed after transfer. As I am sending
this message to you, I was able to divert Nineteen Million, Seven Hundred
and Twenty Thousand United State Dollars (US$19.720 Million) into an escrow
account belonging to no one.

It has been Ten years now and most of the politicians are no longer using
our bank to transfer funds overseas because their tenure has end. The
(US$19.720 Million) has been lying afloat. As an officer of this bank I
cannot be directly connected to this fund and the bank is anxious now to
know who the beneficiary to these funds is. Indeed I will appreciate if you
can receive this fund in your bank account let’s use it for joint
investment. There are practically no risks involved.

I am in the position to guide you towards this transaction and all I need
from you is to stand as the beneficiary of these funds, so that upon your
request for its immediate transfer the bank will not hesitate to transfer
to your designated bank account.

Meanwhile, on indication of your willingness to handle this transaction
sincerely by protecting my interests and upon your acceptance of this
proposal, I would furnish you with the full detailed information and
procedure I have mapped out for this transaction.

If you accept this offer to work with me and find this proposal suitable
for you do reply back to me let’s discuss in details.

E-mail: wjacobus46@yahoo.com

Yours Faithfully,
Mr. Willem Jacobus

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