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: John Thomas Kofi <iddi97067@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johnthomaskofi55@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 06:34:45 -0700
Subject: REQUEST FOR TRANSFER OF FUNDS

MY REGARDS TO YOU,

Hello Beloved, My name is Mr. John Thomas Kofi, Branch Manager of a
Financial Institution. I got in contact with him through a reliable
source called database through the Ghana Chamber of Commerce. I am a
Ghanaian married with 3 children. I am writing to request your help in
the transfer of US$14,500,000.00 Dollars. This fund is the excess of
what my branch in which I am the manager made as profit last year
(i.e. fiscal year 2022). After sending an annual report for the past
year on December 24, 2022 to my head office in Accra-Ghana, I watched
with great interest as they never knew of this excess. I placed this
amount of US$14,500,000.00 Dollars in an Escrow Coded account without
beneficiary (Anonymous) to avoid a trace.

As a bank officer, I cannot be directly connected to this money, so I
am compelled to request your assistance in receiving this money in
your bank account on my behalf. I agree that 40% of this money will go
to you as a foreign partner, in respect of providing an offshore
account, and 60% will go to me and I will join you in your country
once the fund reaches your account for an investment plan. I need to
emphasize that there is practically no risk involved in this. It will
be a bank-to-bank transfer OR an online wire transfer. All I need from
you is to present yourself as the original depositor of this fund so
that the fund can be transferred to your account.

If you accept this offer, I will appreciate your timely response. This
is the reason and the only reason I contacted you, I am willing to
participate in a partnership investment with you because of your
wealth of experience. So if you're interested, please. to assist in
this undertaking, kindly contact me for a brief discussion on how to
proceed.

Sincerely,
Mr John Thomas Kofi,

Anti-fraud resources: