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: "Noel McGills" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <noelmcgills1@aim.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 00:51:37 +0300
Subject: May I seek your indulgence

Dear Friend,

My Name is Noel McGills I would like you to indicate your
interest to receive the transfer of $12.6 Million Dollars.
I will like you to stand as the next of kin to my late client
whose account is presently dormant for claims. If you
are interested in my business proposal, further details of the
transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return
mail. click on the below link to confirm the genuineness of the
deceased death.His name is Christian Eich.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm

I await your response.

Regards
Noel McGills

Anti-fraud resources: