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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: "Leonard Jones" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <leonardjones@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007 18:08:00 +0100
Subject: Re: Consideration.


This Offer May Interest You!

My Name is Mr Leonard Jones,an Audit Manager with SG Hambros Bank located in the Central London and would like to present a Business Proposal for your consideration.I have a None-Resident US Dollar Account placed under my Portfolio as the Bank Officer attached to the Account with a closing balance of US$65,000,000.00 .

This Account in question has not been operated by the Foreign Beneficiary for a period of 12 years till date. All my efforts to locate the Beneficiary in his Oversees Address prove abortive. Therefore, I am set to find a Partner to claim the funds with a sharing ratio of 50:50.
I do hereby anticipate your response as soon as possible.

Thank you.

Respectfully,
Mr Leonard Jones,
Audit and Accounting Officer
SG Hambros Bank.London.

Anti-fraud resources: