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: "Peter Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bricksman@presidency.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 10:01:04 +0100
Subject: Wonderful News

Hello,
This is to inform you that you have been deceived by the so called Nigerian Officials and other ECOWAS African countries for long. They have extorted enough of your hard earned money from you and it is time to say enough is enough to that.
The Federal Government in conjunction with ECOWAS leaders has set up this committee to ensure that all beneficiaries are paid their long over due funds without asking you to pay any dime,  you are not going to pay any money. Therefore, I am sending this email to inform you that your funds will be paid to you without asking you to pay any fee for anything whatsoever.
We are very sorry for your ugly experiences in the hands of these Fraudsters criminals. You are required to get in touch with this office urgently to direct you further on how to receive your funds unconditionally you will not pay any money upfront.
Your urgent response is highly expected.
Regards,
Peter Smith

Anti-fraud resources: