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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: "Cedric Odion" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cedricodion14@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 2020 05:18:27 -0700
Subject: INVESTMENT PROPOSAL

Hello,
 
My name is Mr. Cedric Odion, I am a banker by profession and I work with one of the well known bank in Cotonou city in BENIN REPUBLIC and currently holding the post of bill and exchange manager in the foreign remittance department of my Bank.
 
I would like to apply through this medium for your co-operation to secure an opportunity to invest and do joint business with your company or as an individual in your country.
 
It has been years 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 / system, no one cared to ask me because the money was too much for them to control. They laundered about $14.1 billion USD 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 ($10.5m USD) Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars and was logged in account belonging to no one in our bank.
 
It's been more than eight years now and most of the politicians are no longer using our bank to transfer funds overseas because their tenure has ended. The ($10.5m USD) has been lying afloat in our bank, 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 or share it between us 30% for you and 70% for me, 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 your account the bank will not hesitate to transfer to your designated bank account.
 
Meanwhile, on indication of your willingness to sincerely handle this transaction as per my request 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 immediately let’s discuss in details.
 
Yours Faithfully,
Cedric Odion

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