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: "Kelly Jones" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <kellyjones781@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2016 20:57:22 +0200
Subject: Attn: Beneficiary ,

Attn: Beneficiary ,
I have sent you several of emails but no reply from you, I decided to call your telephone line still could not get through, this is going to be my last email to you, and if I don't get reply, then I'm done with trying to help you.
My purpose of writing this email to you in details, is related to your fund that was returned back to the  Governments Account, and from the documents I received from The Bank shows that A woman in Police custody by the Name Ms. BEATRICE ANNE GEORGE, said you are dead and you have willed the fund to her.
Her Information of Transfer bellow:
NAME: BEATRICE ANNE GEORGE
BANK ADDRESS: CALIFORNIA, USA.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 6503809428.
BANK NAME: Bank of America
In light of this, the woman by name (Ms Beatrice Anne George) Has an application stating that you gave her the power of attorney to be the beneficiary of your fund and have it Transferred to her in United states, She has promised to take responsibility of the Tax Clearance and Transfer charges, She has proven to make us to believe that you are dead and that she is your next of kin, she also demanded that since the fund is here in United Kingdom, we should send it directly to her Account or deliver in United State. after going through some important documents and Investigations with this woman, I have decided to write you this message to be Sure if you are dead or still alive, because with the record I have, I understand that you are not from the Same Place, and this Woman Too has a different foreign name, Kindly prove to me that you are still alive.
I decided to contact you directly base on this issue, do get back to me if really you are the person who permitted (Ms Beatrice Anne George) to be your next of kin to receive this Fund.
Yours sincerely,
 
Kelly Jones

Anti-fraud resources: