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: "John Gabba" <global_lottointernational@msn.com>
Reply-To: johngabba11@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 20 Sep 2005 11:56:42 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!

From:The Director of promotions
Global lotto international promotions Lagos Nigeria.
Tel: +234-8033081348
E-mail:johngabba18@yahoo.co.uk
Date:20th September,2005

AWARD NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of winners of the
GLOBAL LOTTO/INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS Your e-mail address attached to ticket
number 013-2316-2004-477, with serial number A025-09 drew the lucky numbers
37-13-34-85-56-42, and consequently won in category C.

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of US$1,500,000.00
in cash credited to file REF NO. VLI/67-B773524441. This is from total prize
money of US$22,500,000.00 shared among the fifteen (15) international
winners in the category C.

All participating e-mail addresses were selected through a computer ballot
system drawn from 300,000.00 e-mail addresses from Australia, New
Zealand,America, Asia, Europe,USA and North America as part our
International Promotions Program, which is conducted annually in which your
e-mail address won in category C. CONGRATULATIONS.

Your fund is now deposited with a payment centre and insured.Due to the mix
up of some numbers and names,we ask that you keep this award strictly from
public notice until your claim has been processed and you claim your winning
successfully.
We hope with a part of you prize, you will participate in our end of year
high stakes US$1.3 billion International lotto

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference number in every one of your mails to us.
All we want from you are as follows:
(1) Your name.
(2) Your telephone and fax numbers.
(3) Your contact address.
(4) Your age.
(5) Your country

Furthermore, should there be any change of your address, do inform your
claims officer as soon as possible. Congratulations again from all our staff
and thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Yours faithfully,
Mr.John Gabba.
N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to
disqualification.


Anti-fraud resources: