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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:
- 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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: johnson tetteh <johnsontetteh36@att.net>
Reply-To: johnsontetteh1@aol.co.uk
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 16:45:21 -0800 (PST)
Subject: i need your sincerity please advice
Dear
i will introduce myself as Mr.Johnson Tetteh a senior staff in accounting department of my Bank here in Accra Ghana, I believe that you will be capable and trustworthy to handle this transaction after getting your contact information and i hope we can assist each other as we progress in this transaction.
I write you this proposal in good faith to solicit your assistance in financial transaction that will benefit both of us. On the course of the 2010 end of the year report I discovered after auditing our account that my branch made Three Million Three Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars (USD3, 350.000.00) of which no one is aware of it as I have already submitted an approved end of the year report for the year 2010 to my head office.I have since then PLACED this fund on a SUSPENSE ACCOUNT without a beneficiary.
As an officer of the bank, I cannot be directly connected to this money thus I am impelled to request your assistance in receiving the funds. I intend that you retain 40% of the funds while 60% shall be for me. NOTE: There are practically no risk involve in this transaction. It will be a bank-to-bank transfer and i have mapped out plans of executing this transaction with full co-operation of our database administrator (he is the only person aware of the money because there is no way we can do the transaction without him) who will provide enough information into our bank's database to give the transaction the needed history/legitimacy as well as identifying you as the depositor of the funds.
If you accept to go along with me,I will appreciate your timely response
With Regards
Johnson Tetteh
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Anti-fraud resources:
