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: "Mr. Thomas Awurama" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <thomas.awurama@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 10 May 2016 00:48:03 -0700
Subject: .DEAR FRIEND, LET'S WORK AS PARTNERS!

Dear Friend,
My names are Mr. Thomas Awurama, a senior Officer of Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) of Ghana.
I write you in connection to a transaction that would be beneficial to you and me. As the Regional Officer, it is within my purview to send in yearly financial report to the Bank Headquarters at the end of each business year.
In the course of reviewing the year 2011 report, I discovered that my branch has Twenty Six Million, Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars (US$26, 700,000:00) in slush fund. It may interest you to note that a slush fund, colloquially, is an auxiliary monetary account or a reserve fund. However, in the context of corrupt dealings, such as those by governments or large corporations, a slush fund can have particular connotations of secrecy in regards to the use of this money and the means by which the funds were acquired.
 
Four years after, my head office is not aware of it and as it were, has no way of knowing as I understand that the original depositor died three and a half years ago and till date no one has come forward to claim the fund. The plan is to present you as the Manager of the deceased's Estate.
 
I have just placed this funds in what we call Nostro Vostro account with no beneficiary. As an officer of this bank I cannot be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money in your bank account and get 30% of the total funds as remuneration for your involvement. There is practically no risk involved, the transaction will be executed in a manner that protects us from any breach of law.
All we need to do is to secure the pertinent structures in place to authenticate your claim as the manager of the deceased's Estate and consequently the beneficiary of the fund. Your prompt response would be appreciated. Kindly contact me via my email.
 
Thanking you in advance for your anticipated assistance and cooperation.
 
Mr. Thomas Awurama.
Chief Operating Officer.
+233-264-196-587.



This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection is active.


Anti-fraud resources: