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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Dr. Kwame K. Jacob" <kwame@gobot.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: kkcob@ny.com
Date: Sat, 7 May 2005 13:49:53 +0100
Subject: Reply Needed

I see the surprise this mail will bring to you Sir,
but let me introduce myself to
you first Dr. Kwame K. Jacob the foreign remittance
director of Eco-Bank Ghana. Well
my main reason of contacting You is that I want you to
receive a fund $23.5 m
(TWENTY THREE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED
STATE DOLLARS ONLY) in your
personal account in Anywhere, in world.

I will give to you 30% out the total money as the
beneficiary to the fund, I will
also use my position as the foreign remittance
director to make This transfer of the
said fund in a successful way in the nest 72 hrs as
soon as the message is reply
back with your full details and your account
information or particulars where you
want us to transfer this fund to. But before this
transferred will be made you have
to send to us a copy of your International Passport.

Furthermore, Sir, we are also giving you 100% risk
free for thisTransaction and this
will be confidential between you and the bank
officials. All for that information
will be send to you concerning this transfer as soon
as you reply this mail and all
necessary documentation covering this fund will be
send to you.

Note that your fax and telephone number is very
important in this
transaction for fast communication.

Regards,

Dr. Kwame K. Jacob,


Anti-fraud resources: