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

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs.Sonia Benson" <1femia@voila.fr> (may be fake)
Reply-To: s_benson12@yahoo.com.sg
Date: Fri, 12 May 2006 18:56:04 +0000
Subject: Can you do me favor pls


Sir,

Please can you do me a favor ? My name is Mrs.Sonia Benson. presently, I located in Senegal west Africa.I want to come up to your country for investment purpose but I need somebody who will be my business partner upon my arrival as I have some money which I will invest there upon my arrival.

If you can assist me to come up to your country,I will appriciate it because I have not be in your country before and I will need citizen who will direct me and invest with me as joint-venture since I will like to settle down with my children in your country.

I am waiting for your response regarding the above matter.

Sincerely,
Mrs.Sonia Benson.



Anti-fraud resources: