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. Stephen Mensah" <stephenmensah091@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2022 06:14:12 -0800
Subject: COMPLIMENT OF THE SEASON

This email might come as a surprise to you because you haven't given
me permission to do so and you don't even know me, but before I talk
about you, I want you to forgive me for sending this email without
your permission. I write this letter in confidence, believing that if
it is God's will for you to help me and my family, Almighty God will
bless and reward you in abundance. I need an honest and trustworthy
person like you to trust this huge transfer project.

My name is Mr. Stephen Mensah, branch manager of a financial
institution. I got your contact through a trusted source called
Database through Ghana Chamber of Commerce. I am a Ghanaian married
with 3 children. I am writing to request your assistance in
transferring $12,500,000. This fund is the excess of what my branch
where I am the manager made as profit last year (i.e. 2021 financial
year). I have already submitted an annual report for that year at my
headquarters in Accra-Ghana as I watched with great interest as they
will never know about this excess. Since then, I have placed this
$12,500,000 in an Escrow Coded account without a beneficiary
(Anonymous) to avoid tracking.

As a bank officer, I cannot be directly connected to this money, so I
am compelled to ask for your help in receiving this money into your
bank account in my name. I agree that 40% of that money will be for
you as a foreign partner, as far as providing an account abroad, and
60% would be for me. I need to emphasize that there is virtually no
risk involved in this. It will be a bank transfer to a bank. All I
need is for you to be the original depositor of this fund so the fund
can be transferred to your account.

If you accept this offer, I appreciate your timely response to me.
That's why and the only reason I got in touch with you, I'm willing to
partner with you because of your wealth of experience. So please, if
you are interested in helping in this endeavor, please contact me for
a brief discussion on how to proceed.

Best Regards
Stephen Mensah

Anti-fraud resources: