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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr.Han Chul" <andazi@msn.com>
Reply-To: hanchul_55@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:52:45 +0000
Subject: Re: I seek ur concept as the Next Of Kin,to late Mrs.KNOX.

HELLO,

PLEASE BEAR WITH ME FOR NOW.

WHAT I HAVE MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU.IT IS A BUSINESS PROPOSAL THAT
WILL BE BENEFICIAL TO YOU AND I.

I LIVE IN SHANGHAI,CHINA. I AM 49 YEARS OLD AND I HAVE BEEN WORKING IN
INTERNATIONAL FINANCE COMPANY IN CHINA FOR THE PAST 17 YEARS WHERE I AM
PRESENTLY
AN ACCOUNTS
MANAGER.I WILL GIVE YOU MY FULL DETAILS ON YOUR REPLY TO THIS LETTER.MY
AIM OF CONTACTING YOU IS TO SOLICIT YOUR CO-OPERATION AND ASSISTANCE
BASED ON ONE OF THE ACCOUNTS UNDER MY MANAGEMENT CONTAINING $8 MILLION
(EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS) WHICH HAS REMAINED DORMANT FOR THE PAST YEARS.
THIS ACCOUNT WAS OWNED BY THE LATE MRS.BELINDA KNOX, AND FOLLOWING MY
INVESTIGATION, I FOUND OUT THAT SHE DIED ON MAY 1991 VIA A CAR CRASH IN
THE BAHAMAS AND SHE LEFT NO CHILDREN OR NEXT OF KIN.

I WILL INFORM YOU MORE ON HOW WE CAN GET THE MONEY IN HERACCOUNT
TRANSFERED INTO YOUR ACCOUNT IF YOU AGREE TO CO-OPERATE WITH ME ON THIS
ON YOUR REPLY TO THIS MAIL.

I WILL ALSO GIVE YOU MORE PERSONAL DETAILS OF ME AND THE TRANSACTION ON
YOUR REPLY.
PLEASE TREAT THIS AS CONFIDENTIAL,URGENT AND OF UTMOST IMPORTANCE.

EXPECTING TO HEAR FROM YOU.
YOURS SINCERELY.
HAN.


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