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: Steve John <stevejohn_4@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jun 2006 20:05:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I am waiting for your reply


Hello VICTIMNAME,

Thanks for your E-mail, i want to let you know that this money is in the Security Company in Netherlands, pls i will be more than happy if you can travel to Netherlands and see the money cash and claim it there, the certificate of deposit is with me i can send it to you to enable you conatact them and confirm the money from them.

Pls i will be more than happy if you can help me out of this situation so that i can finish my Education, the Federal Government have seized all our properties due to my age, if this $4.5 Million Dollars is being returned to me it will be seized again by the Federal Government becuase of my age and i can't travel to europe country and claim the money because there is no money in my hand again, i am pleading with you please to help me claim this money so that i can finishe my Education, i will send you the certificate of deposit and also write an authorization letter to enable you claim the money on my behalf, as soon as you send your full name and address with your mobile telephone n umber

You can travel and claim the money in Nedtherlands if you want to travel over there, but you have to send your full name and address with your mobile telephone number so that i can write an authorization letter to enable you claim the money on my behalf.

I am waiting for your reply

Thanks and God Bless.
Steve John


---------------------------------
Sneak preview the all-new Yahoo.com. It's not radically different. Just radically better.

Anti-fraud resources: