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: "=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Microsoft=20Office?=" <result@microsoft.co.uk>
Reply-To: redeem_prize2010@live.co.uk
Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2011 06:18:41 -0300
Subject: Micorsoft Promo (Your Reference No: UK/9420X/05)‏

Microsoft Sweepstakes Promotion,
100 Victoria St, London SW1E 5JL
United Kingdom
Customer Service.

Your Batch No: 074/05/ZY369
Your Reference No: UK/9420X/05

You have been awarded the sum of 550,000 GBP and a Toshiba laptop in the on going Microsoft Sweepstakes Promotion 2011. For claims send the above reference number and batch number and your complete details for verification and release of winning:
prize.

Names:
Tel:
Age:
Address:
Occupation:
Country:

(Foreign Transfer Manager)
Mr Mark Foster
Tel: +44 704-571-0545
Email : redeem_prize1122@live.co.uk

Anti-fraud resources: