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: "luc_adien2001@yahoo.co.uk" <dr.luc@gazeta.pl>
Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 21:29:32 +0200
Subject: Good Day


Good Day

I am Dr.Luc Adien, personal Assistant to the Branch Manager, Bank Of Africa
(BOA) COTONOU-BENIN REPUBLIC.

I want to inquire from you if you can handle a transaction of mutual
benefits for both of us.The transaction is about seeking your consent to
present you as the next of kin/ beneficiary of 7.5Million dollars belonging
to a deceased customer of the Bank where i work.

The bank gave me assignment to look for any relatives of this deceased
customer but after rigorous enquiry/search even through their high
commission,non of his relatives could be traced.This has shown that he
resided completed in Benin Republic his entire family and also died in plan
crash with his entire family.As his former account office,i have decided to
contact you to enable us corporate and pull out this money to your foreign
bank account for investment.I have all the required information from his
file jacket and will be ready to provide it to aid and facilitate the claim.

I will give you more details about the transaction when I receive your
response.
Thanks

Dr.Luc Adien
Assistant Branch Manager,
Bank Of Africa(BOA)
Cotonou Benin Republic.

Anti-fraud resources: