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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "ecowas " (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.
- vkwame05@rediffmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Chief Vincent Kwame" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vkwame05@rediffmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 22:30:33 +0100
Subject: From Chief Vincent Kwame
Good day.
I am Chief Vincent Kwame and I work with the West Africa Financial Monitoring Agency under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Financial Headquarters in Togo. Please forgive me for not disclosing my identity to you at this stage for my security in case you report me. I will tell you more about myself upon the receipt of your positive response to my proposal.
Based on numerous reports from expatriates on financial crimes (SCAMS) and diversion of various contract/inheritance payments belonging to them especially from member nations like Nigeria, Togo, and Burkina Faso etc. The African Union in her resolution at the last summit in Accra Ghana implemented new measures in order to checkmate such activities. They therefore mandated all banks in the African Region to submit all contract/inheritance payments files within the last ten years to the ECOWAS Financial Headquarters in Togo for proper scrutiny so as to ascertain legitimate benefactors and have the respective funds released and transferred into their accounts of which we have concluded 12 cases and those that were cleared have received their payments fully of which we have received international commendations.
It was during this process that I discovered a contract payment file with the total sum of $US25Million with file number: fgn/0214/nnpc/a53/06. I took great interest in this particular file and had it removed from the others when I discovered that the benefactor of the funds Mr. Edson Fabrini is late. He died alongside his family in Thailand 2007 air disaster as can be confirmed on http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/17/travelnews.thailand . I carried out a thorough investigation on the payment file and I am 100% satisfied that the deceased has no known living relatives and if not for the fact that I removed the file during the last board meeting, it would have been approved for payment as it has met with all requirements and the funds would have been simply diverted and shared amongst the directors and nothing will ever be said about it as I am very sure that no one will ever come for it. I have now returned the file back as I can keep it for long.
Since I cannot put up claims for these funds based on the fact that we are not allowed to operate a foreign account which is in accordance to our Oath of Office, I therefore solicit for your assistance so that we claim the payment file with your name and have the funds released and transferred into your account for our both mutual benefit on a 50%-50% basis.
I guarantee a hitch-free conclusion of this transaction and I assure you that you will never regret your involvement in this transaction.
Upon the receipt of your immediate response, I will furnish you with details on what you must do immediately as we have little time on our side before a final decision will be taken on the payment file.
With your immediate co-operation, this payment will be cleared and you will have the funds released and transferred into your account via bank to bank transfer. I need your immediate response as you are the only person I have contacted for this deal.
I anticipate your immediate response through my private email id below
vkwame05@rediffmail.com
God Bless.
Chief Vincent Kwame
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