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: "JIM WHITE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jimwhite01@9.cn>
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 12:45:12 +0200
Subject: GOODDAY

Good morning,
 
My name is Jim White, a member of the U.S. ARMY 3rd Infantry Division in  Iraq. I would like to share some highly classified information about my  personal experience and the role which I played in the pursuit of my career  serving in the U.S. ARMY. However, I would like to hold back certain  information for security reasons until you have the time to visit the BBC  website stated below. This will enable you to have insight as to what I'm  intending to share with you.
 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
 
Please get back to me after visiting the above referenced website to enable  us to discuss the matter more. I'm uncomfortable sending this message to you  without knowing if you are indeed with me or you decide to go public. Please  reply via my personal email? Jimwhite01@9.cn to confirm you have  visited the site and understand my intentions.
 
 
Sincerely,
 
 
Jim

Anti-fraud resources: