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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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Fraud email example:

From: "Ibrahim Hassan" <ibhassan4@dcemail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: ibhassan@sify.com
Date: Sat, 16 Oct 2004 12:29:47 +0000
Subject: Waiting for your urgent reply

FROM :MR IBRAHIM HASSAN.
PRIVATE PHONE:00226 76 58 07 11.
PRIVATE EMAIL: ibhassan@sify.com

Dear Friend,

I am MR IBRAHIM HASSAN, the head,aduit and accounts in one of the banks
in BURKINA FASO in West Africa with due respect and regards.
I have decided to contact you on a business transaction that will be
very beneficial to both of us at the end of the transaction. We had
a foreign client MR BRAIN ISAAC who deposited a huge sum
of money (US$10.5 million) with our bank.

Eventually, this client died in a car crash but, since then we have not
had any body coming for the claims as the next of kin. A situation I
have monitored closely with my position in the bank.
Now, having monitored this deposit over the years after his death,
and hence nobody has showed up as the next of kin for the
past three and half years, I have moved the file to my private volt.
I now solicit for your assistance to present you as
the next of kin as every other arrangement has being
concluded by me and I am only waiting for a foreigner
to enable me move the fund to his account. This does not have any risk
attached to it as all the internal documentations will be handled by
me.
I therefore request you to confirm your interest
by a return message and I will furnish you with
details. Your interest will be negotiable before we
commence the project.
I look forward to hearing from you.


Yours Faithfully.
MR IBRAHIM HASSAN.
00226 76 58 07 11.
ibhassan@sify.com



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