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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: "Dr.Kenneth Kwaku" <kenneth.kwaku@live.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Dec 2013 11:39:51 +0100
Subject: Greetings

Greetings, My name is Dr.Kenneth Kwaku, regional branch manager ICB bank of Ghana, I have decided to seek a confidential co-operation with you in the execution of the deal described here-under for our both mutual benefit and I hope you will keep it a top secret because of the nature of the transaction. During the course of our bank year auditing, I discovered an unclaimed/abandoned deposited fund, sum total of $ 15.500, 000.00 USD (Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers (Late Mr. Billy Lawrence) an American a gold merchant who unfortunately lost his life and family, in an Auto Crash along abidipelle Drive Accra Capital city of Ghana in September 7, 2004. Now our bank has been waiting for any of the relatives to come-up for the claim but nobody has done that. I personally has been unsuccessful in locating any of the relatives for over 7 years now, I sincerely seek your consent to present you as the next of kin / Will Beneficiary to the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at {Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars} can be paid to you, which we will share in these percentages ratio, 60% to me and 40% to you. All that I require from you is your sincere co-operation; trust honesty and utmost confidentiality to enable us conduct this transaction successfully. I assure you that this transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law both in your country and here in Accra Ghana kindly get back to me with your direct mobile phone number if you are in anyway privileged to carry out this transaction, I will call you for proper discussion on how you will open communication with the bank and make the claims for onward transfer of the fund to you, please note that we have few days to carry out this deal, Your kind rapid response will be highly appreciated. Regards, Dr.Kenneth Kwaku Regional Branch Manager ICB bank of Ghana Tema Branch. Tel :+233549083839

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