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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: "Benjamin Agyie Ahulu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <abenjaminagyeiabc@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2017 12:13:35 +0100
Subject: Mutual Trust Needed

Hello,
 
I am contacting you with a BIG trust, My name is Dr. Benjamin Agyei,   I am the head of financial control manager in the United Bank of Africa.As the head of financial control manager in this bank, It is my duty to send out financial reports from the branch offices of the United Bank to the head office at the end of every annual general meeting.
 
During the first annual general meeting in this year 2016 which ended on Thursday the 3rd of March 2016, I discovered that 'United Bank capitals' made an over invoice excess profits of "$10.8 Million USD",, Ten Million Eight Hundred Thousand US Dollars, which the head office are not aware of, and will never be aware of.
 
I have since placed the funds on what we called SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without any beneficiary. As a manager in this bank, I can not be directly connected to the funds, this is why I'm contacting you for us to work together, to appoint you as the beneficiary of the funds, and the bank will transfer the funds into your bank account for us to share.
 
 
You will receive 50% for your help in this transfer,  and 50% will be for me.
 
All the necessary documents for successful transfer of the funds will be legally obtained. As soon as the funds is transferred into your bank account, I will come over to meet with you, to receive my own share of the funds for my investment plans.
I assured you 100% that we can achieved the funds transfer successfully, because I am here to make sure that everything works out. I will send more details to you as soon as I receive your reply.
I will send my personal documents to you for your identification as soon as I receive your reply. If you have any question,  feel free to ask for more details.
 
Yours sincerely,
Dr. Benjamin Agyei

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