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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: "Michael Shittu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hosfng@live.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:42:38 +0100
Subject: United Nation Compensation

United Nations
UK Office
3 Whitehall Court
London SW1A 2EL
Direct Tel: +44 754 338 4783

Dear,

United Nation Compensation

All UN member countries submitted list of reported scam victims to UN Regional office in UK in charge of Compensation, we are making sure that all victims are compensated; this is the reason of this letter to you.

After rigorous investigation, United Nations monitoring unit has approved the sum of $1M as compensation to you. This exercise will be handled globally through our regional office in South Africa, London, United States, Nigeria and Holland.

You are therefore requested to confirm your account details which will be forwarded to the IMF for verification, thereafter the compensation amount will be released to your account.

It is also important that you give us full details account of your ordeal which will enable the law enforcement agencies to apprehend these criminals.

Regards,
Michael Shittu
United Nations

Anti-fraud resources: