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: Godfrey Apkor <godfreyapkor@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 May 2018 11:37:40 -0700
Subject: Godfrey Apkor 14-05-18

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am Mr.Godfrey Apkor,SENIOR MGR, SPECIAL ASSETS, with a commercial Bank
here of.

I have decided to contact you through this medium based on a business
proposal, which will be of mutual benefit to both of us. I discovered your
email through comprehensive web email search on directory so I decided to
contact you. I know this might sound like scam to you because of the
activities going on in the INTERNET today. But you have my assurance that
God has located us.

I am the account manager to one of our late customer, he worked with an
oil servicing company here in my country, the late customer made a numbered
time (fixed) deposit for twelve calendar months, valued at $6.5m(Six
Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars Only) in my branch. Upon maturity, we
sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply.

After a month, we sent a reminder and finally we discovered from his
contract employers,National Petroleum Authority that our customer died from
an automobile accident. On further investigation, I found out that he did
not leave a will and all attempts to trace his next of kin were fruitless.
I therefore made further investigation and discovered that the deceased
person did not declare any next of kin in all his official documents,
including his bank deposit paperwork.

This sum of ($6.5m) is still sitting in the bank and the interest is rolled
over with the principal sum at the end of each year.
No one will come forward to claim it. According to the law of Ghana, at the
expiration of 9{nine} years, the money will be reverted to Ghana,
Government if nobody claims it.

Consequently, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand
in as the next of kin to the deceased person so that this money will not
be reverted by the Government. If this request matches with your inward
intention for success and greatness, then you are urged to make a quick
response indicating your interest and readiness to participate and work
with me harmoniously to make this successful.

Please observe utmost confidentiality, and be rest assured that this
transaction would be most profitable for both of us,I shall require your
assistance to invest my share in your country. In your return mail, please
do forward your information as listed below if you are willing to complete
this transaction with me, to enable me put the total fund in your name for
claim as the next of kin to the late customer:

Your full name:
Your contact address:
Your phone number:
Your age/Occupation:

I wait for your urgent reply.

Regards.

Mr.Godfrey Apkor.

Anti-fraud resources: