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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: Thomas Mawutor <mariclifford1@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 21:25:00 +0100
Subject: Business Relationship

*Dear Sir,How are you doing?,hope great.I was compelled to contact you
after reading your brief profile online and I strongly believe that we can
be able to work together on this project.I am making this offer of business
collaboration to you in strict confidence, hence I would respectfully
request that you keep the contents of this mail private and respect the
integrity of the information therein. My name is Mr. Thomas Mawutor,I am a
senior Accountant working in the Public Contract Procurement Board; under
the MINISTRY OF WORKS AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT here in the Republic of Togo,
West Africa.Please, if you can provide a safe bank account where we can use
to make transfer of fund. Write me back for possible business
co-operation.The fund available for this project was accumulated from
additional cost which I intentionally added to the invoice/ bills of some
contracts done in our Organization recently(2015) the contract was
deliberately over-invoiced for my personal gains ;meanwhile already all
the foreign contractors who made these supplies has all been fully paid
remaining the added extra cost USD9.650M still floating in bank , and the
authorities are waiting for our department to submit to them the
beneficiary contractor's name to be paid with the remaining amount.I would
have gone ahead to ask for the funds to be released to me, but that may
draw a straight red line on my position and may also jeopardize my
job.Hence, that is the reason why I decided to contact you and solicit for
your kind collaboration, because as a foreigner you would be easily passed
by the Authority as the beneficiary with right to claim and the payment
will be processed and transferred in your favor ;afterward we can share it
between the 2 of us.This is a well planned deal and there is no risk in
it, because we are going to pass through the due process.Please if you are
interested in this proposal kindly reply me urgently through my private
email: thomasmawutor2104@yahoo.com for further detailsThanks for your
anticipated cooperation.Sincerely,Mr. Thomas Mawutor29 Rue Elavanyo
PicasB.P 01-61147Lome-Togo,West Africa.*

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