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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.

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Some comments about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "PHILIP TAYLOR" <ptaylor004@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: ptaylor001@o2.pl
Date: Thu, 23 Feb 2006 14:15:58 +0000
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL. REPLY

Dear Friend,
My name is Mr.Philip Taylor,Cousin to Mr.Charles Taylor,former president of
the Republic of Liberia who is presently in Nigeria on political assylum.Iam
also in Nigeria with Mr. Charles Taylor.

I have decided to contact you for this business,After I saw your details
when I was searching on the internet for someone that I can trust with
/honesty. Now,the issue here is that I have the sum of $5 million (Five
million united states dollars)deposited right now in a Nigerian Bank.All I
need is a trusted foreigner that can assist me in transferring and investing
the money outside Africa,hence
I am contacting you.

Please I beg you in the name of God in Heaven,this money is my only hope of
survival and I am counting on you for a successfull transfer of this money.I
hope you will not divert the money for your personal use or sit on this
money when it gets into your custody.

As soon as I get your personal details(your full address,your phone and fax
numbers) ,I will inform the Bank for change of ownership of the money and
the process of transfer will begin immediately.After the transfer,I promise
to compensate you with 30% of the total money and 5%
will be mapped out for expences. All things being equal,this transaction
will not take longer than eight working days.

Please reply to: ptaylor001@o2.pl

Regards,
Philip Taylor.


Anti-fraud resources: