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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: "Mr Prince." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <princephh@gmx.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Sep 2011 23:00:30 +0100
Subject: This is for your attention

Hi,
My name is Prince and an Accountant with a Bank here in the UK, please pardon me as I don’t intend to let out my last name at the moment for security measures, the purpose of my proposal won’t allow me to. Truly sorry.
I won’t like to take much of your time; hence, I’ll go straight to the point, I need your help to legally file in for a claim worth 37,850,000 British Pounds where you will part with 30% of the total sum at the end of claim which by profession will not take longer than 5-7 working days.
Please understand that you have a choice on this proposal, either to assist me, or ignore this mail. Please, don’t respond if you are NOT or LESS INTERESTED.
Mr Prince.
princephh@gmx.com

Anti-fraud resources: