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: william david <wdavid021@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2016 03:25:01 -0700
Subject: DEAR FRIEND CONFIDENTIAL REPLY

STANDARD CHARTERED BANK OF GHANA,
ACCRA GHANA.
My Friend,
My name is William David,an American citizen.I am the regional manager of
Standard Chartered Bank of Ghana Takoradi branch in the western region of
Ghana.I came to know you in my Private Search fora liable and reputable
person to handle this confidential transaction. I write you this proposal
in good faith.I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you
and me, as the regional manager of the Standard Chartered Bank it is my
duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city
Accra at the end of each business year. On the course of 2015 business
report.I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made ($3.5
million Dollars) which my head office are not aware of and will never be
aware of it.

I have placed this funds on what we call escrow account with no
beneficiary.As an officer of this bank I cannot be direct connected to this
money, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money in
your bank account,you can open a new account which does not have money in
it and get 30% of the total funds as commission.here are practically no
risks involved, it will be a bank-to-bank transfer and all I need from you
is to stand and claim as the original depositor.I need your information so
that wean start the transfer.Reply to this email.
your mobile number
your occupation
your bank Account
Best regards,
William David

Anti-fraud resources: