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: "hajia mariam" <h_mariam2008@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: hajiamariam7@sify.com
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2005 01:36:33 +0000
Subject: In anticipation of your response...

Dear Beloved,
Due to the sudden death of my husband General Abacha
the former head of state of Nigeria in June 1998, I
have been thrown into a state of hopelessness by the
present administration.I have lost confidence with
anybody within my country.I got your contacts through
personal research,and had to reach you through this
medium. I will give you more details when you reply.
Due to security network placed on my daily affairs I
cant visit the embassy so that is why I have contacted
you. My husband deposited $12.6million dollars with a
security firm abroad whose name is witheld for now
till we communicate. I will be happy if you can
receive this funds for safe keeping till we meet and I
assure you a very good percent of this fund if you
can assist me I will instruct my son to contact you
so please feel free to comunicate with my son.
I await your urgent response,
Hajia Mariam.
NOTE:
PLEASE YOU CAN REPLY ME VIA MY EMAIL ADDRESS:
hajiamariam7@sify.com
AND ALSO SEND ME YOUR CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER SO THAT
MY SON MUSTAPHA CAN CALL AND DISCUSS WITH YOU VERBALLY
REGARDING THIS TRANSACTION SO THAT YOU CAN ASK ANY
QUESTION THAT YOU FEEL LIKE ASKING REGARDING THIS
TRANSACTION AND PLEASE KEEP THIS VERY CONFIDENTIAL.


Anti-fraud resources: