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: Mensah Osei <mensahoseimm1@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2016 13:24:45 +0000
Subject: Hello Dear. I Need Your Assistance.


Hello Dear. I Need Your Assistance.

Sorry for sending this email to you without your permission.

Let me start by introducing myself properly to you. My name is Mr
Mensah Osei, The Branch Manager of a Financial Institution. I got your
contact through a reliable source called database through Ghana
chamber of commerce. I am a Ghanaian married with 3 kids. I am writing
to solicit your assistance in the transfer of ( US$10,500,000.00
Dollars ). This fund is the excess of what my branch in which I am the
manager made as profit last year (i.e. 2015 financial year).

I have already submitted an annual report for last year to my head
office in Accra-Ghana and I have watched with keen interest then
confirmed that my head office will never know of this excess. I have
since, placed this amount of ( US$10,500,000.00 Dollars ) on an Escrow
Coded account without a beneficiary (Anonymous) to avoid trace.

As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this
money, thus My purpose of contacting you personally are to request
your assistance to receive this money into your bank account on my
behalf. I agree that 40% of this money will be for you as a foreign
partner, in respect to the provision of a foreign account, and 60%
would be for me, also my 60% share will also be invested in your
country under your care. All I need from you is to stand as the
original depositor of this fund so that the fund can be transferred to
your account.

This transaction is entirely risk free and it will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement . Actually I will use my position as the
regional manager officer to guarantee the successful execution of this
transaction to your account. With my 60% share I am willing to go into
partnership investment with you owing to your wealth of experience, So
please if you are interested to assist on this venture kindly contact
me back for a brief discussion on how to proceed. Please do treat this
information as Top secret between us and if this business
proposaloffends your moral ethics, do accept my sincere apology.
Thanks for your understanding

Best regards,
Mr Mensah Osei,

Anti-fraud resources: