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: Innocent Kadiogo <mr_kad16@msn.com>
Reply-To: <innocenkad2008@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 21:15:33 +0000
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL [ READ CAREFULLY AND REPLY ]




FROM THE DESK OF MR INNOCENT KADIOGO
MANAGER AUDITING AND ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT
AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK (A D B)
BURKINA FASO (WEST AFRICA).

Dear Friend,
IAM THE ABOVE MENTIONED PERSON, WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED BANK.HAVING NOT MET YOU IN PERSON, I KNOW YOU WILL BE SURPRISED TO RECEIVE THIS MAIL,BUT PLEASE TREAT IT AS VERY CONFIDENTIAL, AND URGENT,BECAUSE THIS MAIL ,IF HANDLED CORRECTLY,WILL CHANGE THE COURSE OF OUR LIVES, AND THAT OF OUR BOTH FAMILIES.
PLEASE I NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE IN TRANSFERRING THE SUM OF THIRTY NINE MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS($39.5),WITHIN THE NEXT 14 WORKING DAYS.THIS MONEY (WHICH BELONGS TO ONE GEORGE SMALL),A DECEASED CUSTOMER WITH OUR BANK,WHO DIED ALONG WITH HIS NEXT OF KIN IN AN AIR CRASH IN 31ST OCTOBER 1999,WANTS TO GO IN TO GOVERNMENT TRAESURY AS UNCLAIMED BILLS.
PLAESE, I DONT WANT THIS MONEY TO GO IN TO GOVERNMENT TRAESURY AS ABANDONED FUND,SO THIS IS WHY I NEED YOU TO HELP,BY ACCTING THE NEXT OF KIN ,SO THE MONEY CAN BE RELEASED TO YOUR ACCOUNT ,SINCE LATE MR GEORGE SMALL HAVE NO NEXT OF KIN.IF YOU AGREE TO HANDLE THE TRNASACTION WITH ME ,YOU WILL GET 30% OF THE MONEY,WHILE 10% WILL BE USED TO OFFSET ANY EXPENSES INCURRED DURING THE PROCESS.MAIL BACK ON innocenkad2008@yahoo.com,
FOR MORE CLARIFICATIONS.
EXPECTING YOUR URGENT RESPONSE.
REGARDS,
KADIOGO.

Anti-fraud resources: