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: "Joe Houston" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <resurr1@ciudad.com.ar>
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2010 23:02:39 +0100
Subject: why sudden silence?

JOE HOUSTON
234, avenue Bayol
Cotonou, Republic of Benin.

Tel: +22996034699


Hello,

We were very delighted when you took your precious time to write us despite the spreading of scam in the Internet nowadays. We sincerely appreciated your response to our proposal and we were looking forward to have a deal with you, but your sudden silence is amazing us. Could you tell us what could be the reason of your silence? We await your response, please.

Be informed that after the seizure of her husband's money by Swiss banks, she has decided to deposit this fund in a security and finance company as a consignment, which she declared as her private belongings.

She cannot make use of these funds in her country due to the attitude of her country government towards her family. She is suggesting investing the funds overseas in long-term investments such as: real estate, housing development, business subsidiaries or dealership for larger business.

Please, this is risk free deal; I am not instigating you to become maybe a conspirator in a crime. This is going to be legally processed and will protect you against any breach of law.

Best regards,
Joe Houston

Anti-fraud resources: