joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
 Free trial for 30 days
   jwSpamSpy
Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "ASSURANCE BANK PLC" <assurancebankplc@hotmail.com>
Date: Sat, 20 Aug 2005 05:07:33 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend Urgent Reply Needed.

Dear Friend,

My name is Mr Amos Adamu. Working with Assurance Bank Plc Here in Nigeria as an auditor. We realized the sum of $6 million owned by one Mr. John .K.  A national of you country who work with Mobil Petroleum Company here in nigeria. On Jan 9 2003 our custmer, his wife and two children died in an {AUTO CRASH} that occurred  With an air craft {US Airways Express Flight 5481 } which crashed Wednesday at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, killing all 21 aboard passengers.

Since then, I have made several inquires to your embassy to locate any of his relative's, but of no avail hence i contacted you. The reason why i contacted you is because In our last Board Meeting, the directors jointly decided that his money should be included in the annual profit for the year 2004. Since I was the one who introduced him to the bank, I objected to the decision and demanded that the fund remains floating in the treasury for another one year to see if we could actually get the relatives to receive his money.

Now i am asking you to stand as the relative since you are from the same country so that this money will be paid to you them we can share it with you. There is no risk involved on your part in this transaction since the Managing Director of the bank and I have covered this transaction with adequate contract and external credit documents from the beginning. Your urgent response with you phone number for oral communications is needed if you are in possition to help and note that this transaction must be top secret.

Regards.

Mr Amos Adamu.

Anti-fraud resources: