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: "GREG MARTINS" <gregmartins1@businessplanet.org>
Reply-To: fz-gregmartins@freezone.co.uk
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2004 13:30:54 +0000
Subject: ESTATE AQUSIT.

Good day

GREG MARTINS, AUDITING AND ACCOUNTING UNIT. FOREIGN REMITTANCE
DEPT.GOLFBANKPLC . Good day, Got to know of you in search for a reputable
and reliable person to assist me in an urgent need requiring utmost trust
and confidentiality,while browsing the internet after I and my colleagues
have decided on what to do as regards the matter. I am GREG MARTINS,
Manager, Bills and Exchange under foreign remittance department of
GOLFBANKPLC International. I am writing this letter to ask for your support
and co-operation to carry out this business opportunity in my department. We
discovered an abandoned sum of US$10.million in an account that belongs to
one of our foreign customer who died 1998,in a plane crash. Do send your
private telephone and fax number including the full details of the account
to be used for the deposit. I want us to meet face to face or sign a binding
agreement to bind us together so that you can receive this money into a
foreign account or any account of your choice where the fund will be safe
and I will fly to your country for withdrawal and sharing and other
investments. To commence this transaction, we require you to immediately
indicate your interest by a return response.

My warm regards,


GREG MARTINS.



Anti-fraud resources: