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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.

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

Fraud email example:

From: "Frank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnfrank202@aim.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 17:34:44 +0100
Subject: Needed joint efforts

Attention .
I am john Frank working with the accounts section of a bank in Europe name withheld, there is floating sum of 14.5m dollars Belonging to our late client whom we cannot trace any of his relation.I need assistance of a trusted person to transfer this fund out of the bank’s system as a relative and the rightful beneficiary to the said deposit.If you are interested contact me through this address(johnfrank202@aim.com)for more details.
Regards
John Frank

Anti-fraud resources: