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: "Tereza C. Vilela" <tcvilela@empro.com.br>
Reply-To: darlg_urd@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Fri, 25 Jul 2008 07:58:58 -0300
Subject: YOUR CONTRACT/INHERITANCE HAS BEEN APPROVED!!!


 


--

This is to officially inform you that ATM card number: 9253 8401 6542 5004
worth Three Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($3.8Million usd) has
been credited in your favor in bid to compensate you on your contract
payment since you are next on our inheritance file for the second part of
this fiscal Year 2008. Your personal identification is ATM 0802. Contact the
verification Officer Mrs. Darlene Gowan on: (cardverificationdept@live.com)
with the following for proper verification and claim processing:

Full Name................
Delivery Address.........
Country..................
Occupation...............
Phone Number.............
Fax Number...............
Age......................
sex......................

NOTE:
-You are also required to send along a means of Identification which can be
a scan copy of your Driver's License or International Passport for
identification on delivery.

Regards
UNITED STATE CONTRACT/INHERITANCE DEPT.



Anti-fraud resources: