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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: "Gerald" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <geraldjhjh3@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 09:20:15 -0600
Subject: From Gerald Johnson

I am a Manager of a bank in Spain . I have an urgent
and very confidential business proposition for you.A deceased man who was a Gold Dealer made a numbered time (Fixed) Deposit in our bank, Upon maturity,I sent a routine notification to his forwarding address but got no reply.After some months, I sent a reminder to the same address, and was told that he died from an automobile accident.I therefore made further investigation and discovered that he did not declare any next of kin or relations in all his official documents, including his Bank Deposit paperwork in my Bank. This sum of 10,600,000.00 Euros is still sitting in my Bank and the interest is being rolled over with the Principal sum at the end of each year. No one will ever come forward to claim it.I contacted you because of your good name to the society, my proposal is that I will like you as a foreigner to stand in as the next of kin to the deceased so that the fruits of this old man's labour will not get into the hands of some government officials.The money will be paid into your account for us to sh
I have planned this deal in such a way that we will never have problem, All legal documents to back-up this fund will accompany the funds to your account, you will never have problem with the financial institute of your country or mine or from any source, but you must keep this information only to yourself until the money is successfully transferred.You will be required to provide this remaining information;
MARITAL STATUS
YOUR AGE:
MOBILE PHONE NUMBER;
OCCUPATION:
POSITION/RANK IN OFFICE:
A SCANNED COPY OF EITHER YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT OR
DRIVERS LICENSE.
In my next email, i will give you the contact of a seasoned lawyer who will help us to get all the Required legal papers, but i will want you to respond to me immediately, even if you have not Scanned your ID, you can still respond so that i will make sure that this transaction did not exceed more than 10 working days and the money will be transferred to your account.
Awaiting your urgent response
Yours Faithfully,
Gerald

Anti-fraud resources: