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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <dr.johncraig20@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2008 19:51:17 +0000
Subject: FOR YOUR PRIVATE ATTENTION AND URGENT RESPONSE!




From Dr. John Craig,Financial Surveillance Officer,Bank Of England.

FOR YOUR PRIVATE ATTENTION AND URGENT RESPONSE!

I am Dr. John Craig,Financial Surveillance Officer,Bank Of England.My office monitors and reports overdue inheritance/over-invoiced contracts payments belonging to Foreign Beneficiaries which were delayed by some Officers in Financial Institutions in the United Kingdom.
For this reason,I would like to have a confidential deal with you.It is my official duty to report these unclaimed funds to the Bank Of England Management Board for conversion into Government Treasury Account but I felt it will be wise and beneficial to remit payment sum of £20Million amongst other unclaimed payments into your local bank account based on trust for both of us to share 50:50.
Please be rest assured that this transaction is completely legitimate and all legal papers will be documented in our bank's database which will cover you and the fund.Please if you are interested get back to me with your personal information for further details.
Yours sincerely,Dr. John Craig

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