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: mariaaida42@gmail.com
Reply-To: maria-aida1@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 9 Dec 2008 11:17:50 +0200
Subject: FROM MRS MARIA AIDA,TREAT AS URGENT PLEASE!


>From Mrs Maria Aida
Dear ,

Greetings! My name is Mrs Maria Aida from Ivory Coast .Due to the sudden
death of my Husband Mr.Robinson Aida One of the great cocoa farmers In my
country who was murdered during a conflict in our country , I have been
thrown into a state of hopelessness by the present administration .I have
lost confidence with anybody within my country. I got your contacts through
personal research,and had to reach you through this medium. I will give you
more details when you reply. Due to my status as a refugee in South
Africa,1 am prohited in so many things here with my son so that is why I
have contacted you. My husband deposited $12.5million dollars with a
security firm in South Africa whose name is witheld for now till we
communicate. I will be happy if you can receive this funds and keep it safe
I assure you 20% of this fund and 5% for your expenses coming here. I will
need your telephone/mobile numbers so that we can communicate.please read
and reply back asap with your telephone number.
Best Regards
Mrs.Maria Aida for the family.

Anti-fraud resources: