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: "Alexei Zakharenko" <zakharenko20052005@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 08 May 2006 03:56:45 -1000
Subject: HELLO.


DEAR MORRIS,

I GOT YOUR MAIL. I MUST INFORM YOU THAT THE FUND IS STILL WITH THE SECURITY
COMPANY IN EUROPE.
IT WILL INVOLVE YOU COMING DOWN TO SIGN FOR THE FUND RELEASE AFTER I HAVE
DOCUMENTED YOUR COMPLETE INFORMATION AS THE BENEFICIARY OF THE FUND.

ALL I NEED FROM YOU IS YOUR FULL NAMES AND YOUR CONTACT ADDRESS INCLUDING
YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBERS AND I WILL GET THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS AND YOU WILL
COME DOWN TO MEET WITH THE SECURITY COMPANY AND THE FUND WILL BE RELEASED TO
YOU.

AFTER THAT, I WILL BE COMING OVER TO MEET WITH YOU IN YOUR COUNTRY TO INVEST
MY SHARE OF THE FUND.

I LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM YOU SOON.

REGARDS,
ALEXEI.

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE!
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/

Anti-fraud resources: