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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: "Martha Harrell" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <martha.harrel@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Sep 2011 07:07:37 +0100
Subject: PLEASE ASSIST ME....

Dear Friend,

I am Mrs Martha Harrell,REGIONAL AUDITOR OFFICER BANCO DE ORO UNIVERSAL BANK,I got your email from a message forwarded to me and decided to contact you, I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $10.2million from my bank here in the Philippines.The Money was deposited by my client who was going through a horrendous divorce in the United States of America and was on the verge of losing most of his estate to his vicious and diabolical wife. As a result of this alarming predicament, my client came to me with a very brilliant idea. He transferred some funds, ten million two hundred thousand dollars ($10.2m) to a fixed deposit account in my bank under an alias which only the two of us knew about as the confidentiality of the matter was necessary for his protection before his demise in early 2003.
All that is required from you at this stage is for you to provide me with your Full Names and Address and telephone number so that the attorney can commence his job.The allocation of our money will be as follows 40% to you for your part in this, 60% for me. Again, I will be in charge of everything else. I will assume all responsibilities for this endeavor so you don't have to worry about any legal ramifications Your urgent response is highly anticipated so please email me through this email address ( PUT UR EMAIL HERE) for more details on this transaction as soon as possible.This should be kept very secret and confidential.Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards Mrs Martha Harrell

SENDER NAME : MRS Martha Harrell
EMAIL: martha.harrel@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: