joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
  • "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal - arrests of online criminals are rare)
  • "my names are " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
• This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
  
• This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
  • bensonotega@representative.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Benson Otega <bensonotega57@hotmail.co.uk>
Reply-To: <bensonotega54@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2007 10:06:23 +0000
Subject: FOR YOUR KIND ATTENTION



Dearest Friend,
REQUEST FOR URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP
Please permit me to introduce myself to you, my names are Mr. Benson Otega a chartered accountant with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation and a member of the International contract award committee of the above corporation, which is under the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
CONFIDENTIAL
THE SOURCE OF THE FUND IS AS FOLLOWS:
With the assistance of some senior officials of the Federal Ministry of Finance and Office of the accountant General of the Federation, we want to quietly transfer the sum of tWelve Million US Dollars only ($12mUS Dollars only) out of my country Nigeria. This US$12M US Dollars was quietly over-estimated on the contract for Turn Around Maintenance and supply (TAM)of Kaduna and Phc refinery in Nigeria (NORTHERN NIGERIA) and the Rehabilitation of Petroleum Pipelines, Depot and Jetties.
The actual contract value of this said project was US$180M US Dollars,but my colleagues and I deliberately increased the contract to our own benefit to the tune of $192M US Dollars, of which the over-estimated value of US$12M US Dollars belongs to us and this amount is what we want to secretly transfer into your personal or company account for safe keeping and sharing. The Federal Government and the Federal Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources have approved the total sum of US$192 Million US Dollars. The project has been completed and commissioned by the Federal Government and the original contractors have been paid their Contractual sum and what is left now is the US$12Million US Dollars. Under this circumstance and upon your acceptance we will register You/your Company as a sub-contractor to the original contractors with my corporation, so that this fund can be transferred into your account without hitch whatsoever.
Our reasons of soliciting your assistance to transfer this fund to your account is owing to the policy of the Federal Government of Nigeria,the code of conduct debars us civil servants (Government Workers) from operating a foreign account, hence we are seeking your assistance. After several deliberations with my colleagues, we decided to give you 25% as your entitlement for your assistance for providing your account,while 70% will be for us and the remaining 5% would be used to offset all local /foreign expenses that might be incurred in this transaction.However this is based on the ground that you would assure me of the following:
1 That after the successful transfer of the $12m us dollars into your account, you will give us our own fare share of 70% without running away with the money or sitting on it to our detriment.
2 That you will treat this business with utmost secrecy, Confidentiality,understanding and sincerity, which this business demands.
3 You will assist us (by way of advice) to invest our own share in business venture(s) in your country.
4 Upon your acceptance of this proposal, KINDLY FORWARD YOUR TELEPHONE AND FAX NUMBER AND YOUR BANK INFORMATION to me also via my private email bensonotega@representative.com
PLEASE NOTE: that this business is 100% risk free and will not implicate you in any way, sir.Finally please if you feel you cannotdo this business with us, kindly delete this message from your computer or destroy it as it will do you no good showing it to a third party or anybody whatsoever, please kindly do us this favor for God sake. I will also want you to know that this transaction has no relationship with scam.
Sincerely
Mr. Benson Otega

_________________________________________________________________
Try Live.com - your fast, personalised homepage with all the things you care about in one place.
http://www.live.com/?mkt=en-gb

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam