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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "OLABODE THOMAS COLE" <olabode_thomas@msn.com>
Reply-To: drolabodethomas@yahoo.es
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 12:31:07 +0000
Subject: assistance for urgent moneytransfer into your account

FROM THE DESK OF DR OLABODE .C. THOMAS
DIRECTOR, FUNDS CO-ORDINATOR
FINANCE/CONTRACT DEPARTMENT
OF NIGERIA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION
(N.N.PC). V/ISLAND, LAGOS, NIGERIA.

EMAIL:drolabodethomas@yahoo.es

RE: CONTRACT NO: NNPC/PED/401/2005

I am the Director, Funds Coordinator of the Finance/Contract Department of
the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).

My office is also saddled with the responsibility of screening,
categorization and prioritization of projects embarked upon by NNPC as well
as feasibility studies for selected projects and supervising the projects
consultants involved.

A breakdown of the fiscal expenditure by this office as at the end of the
fourth fiscal quarter of 2005 indicates that the NNPC paid out a whooping
sum of US$736M (Seven Hundred and Thirty Six Million, United States Dollars)
to successful contract beneficiaries. The NNPC is now compiling
beneficiaries to be paid at the third fiscal quarter of 2006.

The crux of this letter is that the finance/contract department of the NNPC
deliberately over-inflated the contract value of the various contracts
awarded. In the course of disbursement, this department has been able to
track down the sum of US$40.5M (Forty Million, Five Hundred Thousand U.S.
Dollars) as the over-invoiced sum. This money is now lying and floating in
the NNPC domiciliary account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

I and my colleagues now want to quickly transfer this fund to a safe
nominate foreign account for possible investment abroad, this is the reason
why I contacted you. We are not allowed as a matter of government policy to
operate any foreign account because of our status as civil/public servants.
Hence the need to solicit for your full Banking details to enable us
Transfer this money into your account on Swift Code.

We have also evolved a sharing formula as follows:-
(1)40% for the foreign account owner (2) 40% for l and my colleagues (3)20%
will be set aside for a joint business partnership with you in your country.
Send by Email attached the following information:- (1) YOUR COMPANY NAME AND
ADDRESS, BANK NAME, ADDRESS AND ACCOUNT NUMBER (2) YOUR TELEPHONEAND FAX
NUMBER FOR EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION AND A SCANNED COPY OF YOUR INTERNATIONAL
PASSPORT OR DRIVERS LICENSE AS PROOF OF IDENTIFICATION.

This is to affect the Swift Transfer of this fund into your account in less
than Seven (7) working days. Please reply immediately through my email
address: drolabodethomas@yahoo.es

While looking forward to a healthy business relationship with you.

Sincerely,

DR OLABODE .C. THOMAS


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