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: "MR.hans"<hansm20s@terra.es>
Reply-To: <mrhanswoltema@SWISSSMOBILESSES.COM>
Date: Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:20:11 +0200
Subject: Please call me once recieve

I am a manager with a bank in Spain, A foreigner made a fixed deposit of funds with our bank and He died with his entire family in the Madrid Train Bombing.The bank has sent several notices to his forwarding address without success.Our bank will declare the funds unserviceable within the next 30days.Now I seek your content to present you to the bank as next of kin for the deceased funds will be transferred into your account.Please reply to my private email: mrhanswoltema@SWISSSMOBILESSES.COM
Mr.Hans Woltemas

Anti-fraud resources: