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: "FROM STEPHEN BAYOLI" <stephenkoseff@yahoo.ie> (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:51:35 -0700
Subject: BUSINESS TRANSACTION

24TH AUGUST 2005.

GREETINGS....

Dear Friend,

I am Stephen B. Koseff, the Director group finance director of
Investec
Bank of South Africa.I am contacting you with the belief that we will
develope a cordial business relationship which will be beneficial to
both
parties.i discovered a dormant account in my office, as finance
director
with Investec Bank South Africa.,after a careful investigation,i
discovered
that the owner of this account died with his family in plane crash 4
years
ago and the owner did not leave any bonafide beneficiray who can stand
to
claim this funds,so It will be in my interest to transfer this fund
worth
80M USD(Eighty Million United State Dollars)which can only be transferd
to
an account offshore because the money is deposited with forign
account.if
you can be a collaborator to this, please indicate interest immediately
for
us to proceed. Remember this is absolutely confidential.Your contact
phone
and fax numbers will be necessary for this effect.we will talk about
the
percentage ration when you write to me.
I will wait for your urgent response.

Regards and respect,
Mr.Stephen Bayoli Koseff.
Finance Director
Investec Bank South Africa




Anti-fraud resources: