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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Godwin Goof <godwingoof@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: Godwin Goof <godwingoof@accountant.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2015 09:47:50 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Hello


Dear Friend,
 
I am Godwin Goof, the head of auditing and accounting section of my bank. With due respect and regards, I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction.
 
We had a foreign client from your country who deposited a huge sum of money (USD$9.4 Million) with our bank. Eventually, this client was among the victims of Melcom disaster that collapsed on 7th November, 2012 in Achimota but, since then we have not had anybody coming for the claim as the next of kin.
 
A situation I have monitored closely with my position in the bank. Now, having monitored this deposit over the years after his death, and hence nobody has showed up as the next of kin for the past years, I have moved the file to my private volt.
 
I now solicit for your assistance to present you as the next of kin as every other arrangement has being concluded by me and I am only waiting for a foreigner to enable me transfer the fund. This does not have any risk attached to it as all the internal documentations will be handled by me. I therefore request you to confirm your interest by a return message and I will furnish you with details.
 
Your interest will be negotiable before we commence this transaction.
 
I look forward to hear from you soonest.
 
Best Regards,
Godwin Goof


Anti-fraud resources: