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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.

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 Stanley Usman" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrstanleyusman@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 19:44:36 -0000
Subject: Dear friend


Dear friend,

I am Mr. Stanley Usman., The Managing Director Information Department,And the
Personal Attorney to ENGR. TONY LaFong, a national of united State of
America,who used to work with shell/oil development company in Nigeria as the
chief Engineer, On Sunday, 2nt,his
wife And their three children,were killed in the bomb blast which happen in
Lagos,All occupants of the building unfortunately lost their lives. Since then
I have made several enquiries to their embassy to locate any of my clients
extended relatives, this has also proved unsuccessful.please kindly find
details of this incident at the web link below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2718295.stm

After these several unsuccessful attempts, I decided to trace his relatives
over the Internet, to locate any member of his family Hence I contacted you to
repatriating the money that was sign by my client,and i saw your email
contact in his database. The Bank where my late decease had an account valued
at about 13 million dollars has issued a notice to provide the next of
kin, or have the account confiscated within the next ten official working
days. since we have been successful in locating the relatives so that the proceeds of this account
can be paid to your account.

The name and other information that was presented to me, for further
processing,All that is need from you is to provide the information listed
below.

1) Your Full Name...................................
2) Your Date of Birth...............................
3) Your Telephone Number............................
4) YOUR FULL CONTACT ADDRESS........................

We have all the documents (DEATH CERTIFICATE AND DEPOSIT CERTIFICATE)
required to this transaction I guarantee that this will be executed under a
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.

We Await Your Urgent Response.

Best Regards,
Mr Stanley Usman.
Managing Director Information Department,
OCEANIC BANK Of Nigeria P L C.

Anti-fraud resources: