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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Ted Ekwe" <admin@betampa.gq>
Reply-To: tedekwe@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2017 04:26:17 -0000
Subject: RESPONSE REQUIRED







Hello,


I am 89 years old. I live at the government aged home and taken care of by
social workers. I have hearing problem and my speech is not too good,
hence I decided to contact you via this medium. I wish to notify you again
that you were listed as a beneficiary of fund valued at USD5,000,000.00 in
a bank in the intent of the deceased.

In my first email I mentioned about my late neighbor/friend died at the
age of 90 years. The relatives I cannot get in touch with and I am aware
he has USD5,000,000.00 domiciled in a bank. I am contacting you because
you have the same surname identity with this my late friend and therefore
I can present you as the beneficiary to the fund since there is written
mandate by friend to the bank that in an event of his death I should
search for someone with the same surname identity and present the person
as the his next of kin to the bank.Before his death he gave me information
about the money he has in the bank and the account number.

I am compelled to do this because I would not want the bank to push my
friend’s fund into the bank treasury as unclaimed inheritance or use it
for other purposes if someone does not come to claim the fund.

I will send you the information of his bank to contact as soon as receive
a positive acknowledgment from you which also serves as acceptance to
proceed to receive this fund in your account.

Send your reply to: tedekwe@yahoo.com

Yours faithfully,

Ted Ekwe

Anti-fraud resources: