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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: Williams Grant <xccw78@msn.com>
Reply-To: wil290@voila.fr
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 21:07:16 +0100
Subject: TREAT AS URGENT

AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK,
 
OUAGADOUGOU BURKINA FASO
 
Dear Friend,
 
My name is Williams Grant, Manager Auditing and account section of the bank, I discovered a dormant account in my office, and my further investigation revealed that this account has not been operated on for quite a long time. It will be in my interest to transfer this fund worth $8.5 million into an account offshore,
 
I have all the plans safely worked out and will need the co-operation of a foreign partner in order to successfully make this transfer, If you can assist in getting the money transferred, contact me immediately so that I can give you more details.
 
Remember this is absolutely confidential, do also provide me with your full name and address, Mobile Phone Lines,Nationality,Age And Occupation..
Regards and respect,
 
Mr Williams Grant
 
Manager Audit/Account sec ADB
 
 
 
 

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