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: "Mr. Mike Patgreen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <patgreme@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 16 May 2016 20:13:01 +0100
Subject: FOR GOOD,

Dear ,
 
I got your contact address from your reliable chamber of commerce, My name is  Mr. Mike Patgreen the financial Officer of a Mining company in Australia and also a member of the Board of Directors, Contract Awarding Committee that awards contracts to both foreign and local contractors in the giant Investment firm in Australia.
I understand it is a little bit awkward contacting you through this means, But this is basically business, I want to invest heavily in the tune of ($100M) in your country as it is considered open for economic activities and the return of investments are high.
 
Kindly reply back if you wish to partner with me and I will offer you 40% of our investments.
 
Expecting your reply soonest.
 
Best regards,
Mr. Mike Patgreen

Anti-fraud resources: