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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: John Dike <tofa7@johndike.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <tof1963311@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 2016 19:17:27 +0200
Subject: WE NEED YOU, KINDLY GET BACK TO ME

Hi, my name is John Dike; I am the telex and account officer in one of the leading banks in Nigeria. I have a clandestine information and relevant documents concerning a fixed deposit of the sum of US$21,853,521.00 (TWENTY ONE MILLION EIGHT HUNDRED AND FIFTY THREE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED AND TWENTY ONE UNITED STATES DOLLAR) and I need you to provide a secrete account to lodge in this money as quickly as possible. This amount has been Dormant and has not been operated for the past 16years.

>From my investigation and confirmation, the owner of this account was a French citizen, who died in August 1999 and since his death nobody has done anything as regards the claiming of this money because he has no family members who were aware of the existence of neither the account nor the funds, also, information from the National Immigration states that he was also single on entry into Nigeria.

I have discussed this matter with the branch manager of my bank and we have agreed to find a Reliable Partner to deal with. We thus propose to do this business with you, by asking that you stand in as the Next of Kin to the deceased client. We got your contact through a reliable online web profiler and we are convinced that you are the right person for it.

This transaction is totally free of risk and troubles as the fund is legitimate and does not originate from Drug, Money Laundry, Terrorism or any other illegal act. Also, after a successful completion of this transaction, we intend to give you 20% of the fund for your participation and 5% will be set aside to cover whatever expenses that we both may incur, while 75% of the total amount will be for the Branch Manager and I, which we also intend to invest in your country in any good business venture that you will introduce.

I want to assure you that I can make transfer of this fund possible provided you can give me a strong assurance that our share will be secured. Because I cannot comprehend with any form of exposure as I am still in active bank Service. Also, remember that time is of the essence in this business because if all things being equal, we expect to conclude this transaction and the fund confirm in your account within the next 10 to14 bank working days.

Many thanks as I look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.

Mr. John Dike

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