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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "nigeria national petroleum corporation" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Paul Okon <mrsanneobiekwu@gmail.com>
Reply-To: paulokonu@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2022 16:06:28 +0100
Subject: Presented as the Next of Kin.
Hello Dear
I am the Director of Procurement with the Contracts and Procurement
Department of Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). I saw
your email address while consciously browsing in my office yesterday
so I decided to use this opportunity to contact you.
A Foreign Contractor successfully executed a Contract with NNPC.
Unfortunately, the Foreign Contractor died last year after completion
of the Contract before he could be paid. Your Name matches with the
name of the deceased Contractor and it is the reason why I am
contacting you so that you will be presented as the Next of Kin of the
deceased Contractor hence the unpaid Contract sum will be paid to you.
The Contractor was resident in Nigeria until he died intestate (died
without leaving a Will). The unpaid duly completed Contract Sum is
Ten Million, Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($10.8M) only.
I will use my office hence liaise with a Lawyer here with the
appropriate documents to present you as the next of Kin to the
deceased Contractor and beneficiary of the unpaid Contract sum. When
you receive the money, the sharing ratio will be 35% to you and 65% to
us here. I will take care of the Attorney as well.
Please get back to me so that I will give you details. Please remember
this is a transaction that demands utmost secrecy.
Awaiting your Response.
Engineer Paul Okon
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Anti-fraud resources:
