joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: mercy brown <mercybrown1@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: mercybrown9333@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:35:59 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Dearest One,




From: Miss Mercy Brown
Country: Ivory Coast
West Africa
Dearest One,  Compliment of the season to you, I am Miss Mercy Brown, 22 years old orphan from Ivory Coast Abidjan Please do not be offended by the way or manner i came to you, it is about the only way i could get to you after going through your contact id, i decided to write seeking for your urgent assistance attention to help me retrieve my inheritance fund which I inherit from my late father who was killed by the rebels during the political crisis here in Abidjan  cote d ivoire. The said fund is seven million five hundred thousand united state dollars, (USD$7.500,000) compiled in a metallic box, and was deposited as a family valuable  by my late father with my name as the next of kin before his death, I want you to help me retrieve the fund from the holding company, and help me invest with the fund wisely in your country, my uncle is a total trait to my life here. Your urgent reply and suggestion will be helpful to me.My Best RegardsMiss Mercy Brown.

Anti-fraud resources: