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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <esterleon4112@yahoo.co.th>
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 08:55:54 +0000
Subject: Hello Dear,



Hello Dear, My name is Ester De Leon,The wife of Mr Federico de Leon Chair of Anakpawis Partylist Bulacan; Spokesperson, Bulacan Confederation of Operators and Drivers Association.who is recently killed in philippine 26th October 2005. Before my late husband was killed,I inherited a total sum of $15,million dollars from my late husband, this money which i put in a metallic trunk box and deposited it in a security and finance company in abroad. This deposit was coded under a secret arrangement as a family treasure. This means that the security company does not know the content of this trunk box.Since the death of my late husband,the philippine government has blocked me and my late husband account and also my late husband family has succeed in collecting from me all the properties of my late husband.trying to leave me with nothing. I am contacting you because I want you to help me in securing the money in the box for the future of my children.since my late husband family made it impossible for me to move out of the house and they are monitoring me. I hope to trust you as who will not sit on this money when you claim it.i will give you 15% of the total money after you have secured the box for your assistance to me.if you are willing to help me,email me back,so that i will give you more details on this issue. Thanks and i wait to hear from you urgentlyBest regards Mrs Ester De Leon

Anti-fraud resources: