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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: Ali Yusuf <aliyusuf196@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 21 May 2010 05:04:50 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: awaiting your reply.




Dear Friend,  This message may Surprise you. Please accept myapology if it does embarrass you. However, it’s my urgent need for a foreignpartner that made me to contact you. I am a bank manager. I have an opportunityto transfer US$26 Million Dollars. I'm Inviting you for a business deal wherethis money can be share between us, I intend to offer to you 30% of the totalsum on a provision of a foreign account where this fund can be remitted immediately. Meanwhile, arrangement to facilitate the easy transferof this fund without problem has already been put in place by my humble self,if you are interested kindly reply to indicate your interest, then i shallintimate you with the method of application and how you can apply to the bankfor the release and transfer of the fund into your nominated bank account. Infact , the bank law stipulates that if such fund remains unclaimed over a givenperiod of time, precisely 8 years ,the bank shall automatically
transfer thefund into the bank treasury account as unclaimed or lost fund .Hence no one isputting claims to such funds , I want to also inform you that once you apply tothis funds , no other person owns the right or eligibility to this account anymore therefore the bank sees you as the true next of kin by making you thegenuine owner of this account legally , even if the law has to prevail you aregenuine and ascertain with all proofs of eligibility that I shall intimate youwith later on, as we proceed in this transaction . This account has been dormant since 2002 that i havebeen monitoring it .I do advice you to keep this as a top secret. I wait foryour urgent reply once you are interested to be my partner kindly send thebelow information’s 1. YOUR FULL NAME……………….. 2. OCCUPATION…………….. 3. MARITAL STATUS………….. 4. YOUR PRIVATE TELEPHONE NUMBER…………………… 5. AGE………… Regards, Mr. Ali Yusuf.



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