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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: WENTWORTH DIRECT FINANCE <MAIL@WENTWORTH.NET>
Reply-To: ecowas_01@live.com
Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:55:14 GMT
Subject: {Spam!}




ATTN:EMAIL BENEFICIARY

This is to inform you that your Email address have won a prize
money of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars, ($500,000.00)
as one of the final recipients of a Cash Grant/Donation for your own
personal,education and business development for this year 2008 Lottery.
(Contact Our Fiduciary Agent for more informations.)

You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the
transferring of your cash prize to you. Please fill in the verification
form provided below and submit it to the email address below:

CLAIMS RELEASE/ VERIFICATION FORM
1.Full Name:___________________________
2.Full Address:________________________
3.Marital Status:______________________
4.Occupation:__________________________
5.Age:_________________________________
6.Sex:_________________________________
7.Nationality:_________________________
8.Country Of Residence:________________
9.Telephone Number:____________________
10.Fax Number:_________________________

Name:Mrs.Ruth Marshal
Email:mrs.ruth001@hotmail.com

Yours Sincerely,
Dr.Abraham Bulluson
Remittance Director

www.fondazionedivittorio.it
www.ecowas.int

Anti-fraud resources: