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 Michael Williams <mr.michaelwilliams05@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2022 06:55:55 -0800
Subject: Dear friend!

My good friend,

I am happy to make this contact through the name search, My name is
Micheal Wiilliams, a Branch Manager of a bank here in Ghana, West
Africa, I hope I can entrust you with the information I want to share
with you.

Although I don't feel entirely safe to discuss this deal with you
through this Internet method, because this transaction is a very
important business and must be treated confidentially. I know that the
use of this medium of the internet has been greatly abused, I still
choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest
means of communication.

I got your information during my internet search. I feel privileged to
collaborate with you on the project proposed below. I anticipate the
surprise this letter will bring you because it comes from a stranger,
but I assure you it comes with the best of intentions. If you do not
want this commercial offer please forget it, as I will not contact you
again.

This is regarding the fund that I discovered that my branch created
during the year, in which I am the Manager and the excess profit is
twelve million five hundred thousand dollars [US $ 12.500.000,00] of
which the my head office is unaware and will never be aware. I have
since placed this fund in a VASE ACCOUNT.

As a bank officer I cannot be directly linked to this money so this
informed me to contact you to allow us to work together so that you
can help me and receive this fund into your bank account in your
country for us to SHARE.

It is my intention for us to jointly recover the above deposit for our
mutual benefit and for use in useful projects in your country or
abroad. For your mutual cooperation, I propose to disburse the
proceeds of this transaction on the basis of your acceptance and also
at your own suggestion.

I offer you 45% of the total fund, while you keep 50% for me on your
bank account until I join you in your country for sharing / investing
my share of funds or better yet we can enter into a joint venture
partnership enterprise, I will appreciate it very much.

I ask immensely for your utmost honesty and cooperation and let me
know your mind on this, and please treat this information as Top
Secret as I cannot afford to lose my job with the Bank. We will review
the details once we receive your urgent response.

Thank you for your understanding, I will await your response for
further clarification {michaelwilliams5250@gmail.com.

Best regards,
Michael Williams

Anti-fraud resources: