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. Jean-Claude Juncker" <smithgerogeuk@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 09 Aug 2018 13:38:07 -0300
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL..

Geroge Smith, B.A. (Distinction), J.D HARCOURT LLP.
OUR REF: HCLP/01FL/ASSO –YOUR REF: P01/7367/210417

BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Dear <mf:Firstname> <mf:Lastname>

My name is Geroge Smith; I am a partner at Harcourt LLP a London based Law Firm.

Firstly, I must solicit your confidence in this transaction; this is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential. Though I know that a transaction of this magnitude will make any one apprehensive and worried, but I am assuring you that all will be well at the end of the day. I decided to contact you after series of attempt to locate members of deceased family.

There is an unclaimed “permanent life insurance policy” insured for Ten Million Nine Hundred & Fifty Thousand Seven Hundred & Seventy Seven Dollars (US$ 10,950,777.00) with a top Life Insurance Company in London. The policy holder was one of our clients, Late Eng. Arthur <mf:Lastname

Anti-fraud resources: