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"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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "EcoBank Credit" <swiftcreditcadatm@financier.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:56:52 +0100
Subject: ATTEND TO MY LETTER PLS !

Dear Sir / Madam,
Good day and how was your day? I contacted you few weeks back about some foreign deposit in our bank in your last name which has been dormant over ten years now. I am contacting you once again to know your opinion because of the volume of the money. Kindly let me know if you received my first message was received or not to enable enclose the message to you in my next message.
Regional ECO Bank Manager Lome-Togo
Edward Ramos
Skype:   Edward Ramos
 

Anti-fraud resources: