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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: "Charles Koch" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <charleskoch@yandex.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2019 08:25:40 -0800
Subject: Thanks For Your Urgent Response

Dear Friend,
I tender a joint investment business proposal for your considerations and acceptance. I know that the receipt of my communication shall be a great surprise to you considering the fact that we did not know each other or had any business negotiations before now, I however pray your respected self not to allow the above unnatural abnormalities to influence your decision to accept my genuine proposal and intentions which undoubtedly would be of immense mutual benefits to both of us.
May I introduce myself in detail for you and the need for your assistance to claim and invest my inheritance for me?
My name is Mr. Charles Koch. I am the former manager billing and exchange at the foreign remittance department of Banco Sparco, Madrid - Spain. A friend of mine (Mr. Peter Brehovsky from Russia) whom I assisted in moving out his fund from our bank to his bank account in Russia and USA without any bottleneck bureaucracy from the USA/Russian Governments decided to honor our verbal agreement of leaving behind 10% of the fund as my share of the deal.
This appreciation token is in the tune of US$8,500,000.00 (Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) left in his account with Banco Sparco here in Madrid.
This fund is being left in his account since 6 months now waiting for an instruction from my friend (Peter Brehovsky) to be released. According to my arrangement with him, whenever I am set to move out the fund to any bank of my choice, He is willing to instruct the bank (Banco Sparco) for onward transfer to the specified bank account. My purpose of contacting you is to enable me use your bank account to move out the fund I cannot do it alone. Because I live in Spain and as a staff of Banco Sparco, I will not be able to defend such fund if I should embark on the project alone. Hence, I contacted you.
If you are interested in this deal, let me know on your return mail so that I will give you more details on how to proceed further. Kindly contact me on this email: charleskoch@yandex.com
Thanks
Mr. Charles Koch

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