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: "Micheal Taylor" <michealtaylor@m-taylor.com>
Reply-To: taylortaylor@mail.vu
Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2005 14:48:42 +0000
Subject: THANK YOU

ADDRESS: JOHNS WOOD RD, LONDON, NW8QP
TELEPHONE:+447031843517
fax:447030403516


Dear,
I KNOW THIS WILL COME TO YOU AS A SURPRISE BECAUSE YOU DO NOT KNOW ME I AM
MR MICHEAL TAYLOR, THE SON OF THE FORMER LIBERIA PRESIDENT MR. CHARLES
TAYLOR. MY FAMILY AND I IS ON EXILE.

PLEASE, I WANT YOU TO HELP ME CLEAR THIS PACKAGE THAT IS ALREADY IN AMERICA
WHICH I SHIPPED THROUGH DIPLOMATIC MEANS WITH THE HELP OF A DIPLOMAT BUT THE
CONTENTS OF THE PACKA $10,000,000.00ALL IN $100.00 BILLS, BUT THE DIPLOMAT
DOES NOT KNOW THAT IT IS MONEY THAT I HAVE IN THE PACKAGE.

ALL I WANT YOU TO DO FOR ME NOW IS THIS,GIVE ME YOUR MAILING ADDRESS,YOUR
PRIVATE PHONE.YOUR COMPANYS NAME WITH ADDRESS AND FAX AND I WILL TAKE CARE
OF THE CHARGERS INVOLVED
OTHER MODALITIES WILL BE DISCUSSED AS SOON AS YOU GET BACK TO ME.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

MICHEAL TAYLOR



--

Anti-fraud resources: