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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: "Mr Robert Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrrobwilliams8@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2020 05:23:01 -0700
Subject: Greetings

Dear Friend,
 
 
Greetings, I am a civil servant with the Government of the Republic of Ghana, and I will like to discuss a mutual business venture with you. A group of Political figures have some funds totaling, One Hundred  and Eighty Million USD Only  and 300kg Gold Bars, they need someone with experience and capability to represent them legally as their foreign associate so as to  move the Funds out for further investment outside Ghana, or an associate  that can legally be their representative for further investment.
 
 
Brief History on the Funds/Location and Responsibilities: The funds were generated from executed and paid contracts in the Oil  Sector  of late Gadafi oil well in Libya but have been moved into a Bank/Security firm in Ghana for Safe Keeping until cleared and claimed by the appointed foreign associate/Partner. As our Partner/Foreign Associate your presence might be needed to physically claim/clear the funds with the Bank/Security Company or you could instruct the Company to airlift the Consignment to your destination so that we could use the   funds for an investment in your location in which you shall take charge of the investment and manage it on our behalf. Agreed sharing after the funds has been moved out is as seen below;
 
 
Stakeholders 50%, Foreign Associate/Partner 30% and my end 20%. Should you have the capacity to handle this said Transaction, please advice further and we will be glad to furnish you with more details about the company. Please kindly note; the Company doesn’t know that some of the Consignment contains physical Cash. They are only aware of the gold hence; it was declared as containing Family Valuables and important Government secret documents.
 
 
Thanks and Regards,
 
 
 
Robert Williams.

Anti-fraud resources: