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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "MARIAM ABACHA" <mariambox2002@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mariambox_55@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 04:16:48 -0800
Subject: THANKING YOU IN ADVANCE

ATTN:DEAR FRIEND,
URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL I am Mrs. Mariam.
Abacha, the widow of Sani Abacha the Late Nigerian
Head of State.I am presently in distress and under
house arrest while my son Mohammed is undergoing
trial in Lagos and Abuja. The government has frozen
all the family account and auctioned all our properties.
To save the family from total bankruptcy I have
managed to ship through an undercover courier
company,the sum of US20,000,000.00.kept by
my late husband. The money was disguised to
beat the Nigerian Security and it is currently
deposited in a security company. I want you to
receive the money and pay into your Account for
the family safely.I am offering you 30% for assisting
me secure this money Contact me immediately with
my Email Address so that I can forward to you all
necessary details. Endeavour to send your phone
and fax numbers for easy Communications.
This trasaction is not risky.
Best regards.
Mrs. Mariam. Abacha



Anti-fraud resources: