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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "bob jackson" <bobj-22@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Oct 2005 17:40:59 +0000
Subject: Thanks for your mail

FROM: BOB JACKSON
LIONS BANK INTERNATIONAL LTD,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.

DEAR SIR,

I APOLOGIZE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE THIS LETTER MIGHT CAUSE YOU, CONSIDERING
THE FACT THAT YOU DO NOT KNOW ME IN PERSON. I AM BOB JACKSON, DEPUTY GENERAL
MANAGER, (FOREIGN OPERATIONS) WITH LIONS BANK INTERNATIONAL LTD,
LAGOS-NIGERIA.

A CLIENT OF OURS, WHO BEARS THE SAME NAME WITH YOU, ALSO FROM YOUR COUNTRY
DEAD IN EGYPTIAN AIRPLANE CRASH IN 1999 (HTTP://WWW.AIRSAFE.COM/FLT990.HTM)
HE LEFT SOME AMOUNT OF MONEY IN HIS ACCOUNT IN OUR BANK. THE BANK HAS BEEN
MAKING FRANTIC EFFORTS TO LOCATE ANY OF HIS RELATIVES FOR THE CLAIM OF THE
FUND.

INDECENTLY WE FOUND YOUR NAME THROUGH YOUR COUNTRY'S EMBASSY HERE AND
DECIDED TO FIND OUT IF YOU ARE RELATED TO OUR LATE CLIENT, IF YES KINDLY
FORWARD TO US YOUR PHONE AND FAX NUMBERS, TO ENABLE US SEND THE FULL DETAILS
TO YOU, ACKNOWLEDGE THE RECEIPT OF THIS MAIL VIA THIS EMAIL ADDRESS:
BOBJACKSON@ZWALLET.COM

YOURS FAITHFULLY,
BOB JACKSON


Anti-fraud resources: