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: "ExxonMobil Corporation" <lottery@exxonmobil.co.uk>
Reply-To: kurt-exxonmobil@live.com
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 2009 11:16:10 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Winning Ref: 09/EM/71514-IA/09




Exxon Mobil Corporation
ExxonMobil House
Ermyn Way
Leatherhead
Surrey, KT22 8UX
+44 703 1994 759

Your Ref: 09/EM/71514-IA/09

On behalf of the Executive Directors and the entire staff of ExxonMobil
Corporation, we wish to announce to you that, you have been shortlisted as
one of the beneficiaries of this year ExxonMobil Lottery Award
(EMIA) of 950,000 GBP (NINE HUNDRED & FIFTY THOUSAND POUNDS).

Kindly reply to this email for further details & enquiry

Officer In-charge,
Kurt Dickson
kurt-exxonmobil@live.com
+44 703 1994 759
(Programs & Events).

Anti-fraud resources: