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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: "HSBC Bank plc." (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2010 13:04:01 +0300
Subject: Bank of HSBC Alert: Irregular Credit Card Activity

Dear Customer,

As part of our safety measure , we regularly screen activity in the HSBC Bank system.

You received this message due to an issue on your account.

Due to unusual number of invalid login attempts on your account, we have reason to believe there might be security breach on your account.

Your account requires extra verification process to ensure your identity and your account security.

Please Click Here to continue to the verification process and ensure your account security.

Online Banking Support

Anti-fraud resources: