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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: idris aku <idri_aku2001@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 06:21:56 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: VERY URGENT


Dear VICTIMNAME,

Thanks for your mail and the content well noted. How are you and your family? Hope all is well with you and your family.

This transaction is 100% real, genuine and entirely risk free. I will present you to represent me at the Security Company to claim the US$19m which my late father deposited before he die.

I will send you all the documents that will empower you to claim the fund at the Security Company. All these documents you will present to the security company before the fund will be released to you.

As a matter of urgency, you should forward the following information to me to enable my lawyer start preparing the documents.

1) Your full names.
2) Your address.
3) Your direct telephone/fax numbers.

As soon as I receive the above information, I will instruct my lawyer to start preparing the documents that will empower you to claim the fund on my behalf.Again, I will give you the contact information of the security company to enable you establish contact with them pending when you will visit them to sign for the release order.

Please I will use part of my share to invest in your country. So you should start making arrangement on how my own share of the fund will be invested.

Call me on my direct number 234-1-8196313 for a detailed discussion on this project.

Yours sincerely,

IDRIS M AKU.


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