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: "Mr. Greg Amatha." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gregamatho3@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 2012 10:56:21 -0800
Subject: RE: MESSAGE FOR YOU

Hello friend,

I am Mr. Greg Amatha, the auditor general, International Standerd Securities Limited. In the course of my auditing,
I discovered a floating fund in an account which was opened in 1990 belonging to a dead foreigner a national of
your country. I decided to track his last name over the internet to locate any member of his family hence I got in
contact with you.

After going through the deceased records and files, I discovered that:
(1) No one has operated this account since 1993;
(2) He died without an heir; hence the money has been floating.
(3) No other person knows about this account and there was no known
beneficiary. AND IF I DO NOT REMIT THIS MONEY URGENTLY, IT WOULD BE
FORFEITED FOR NOTHING.

I want to transfer this sum of Eighteen million, five hundred thousand Dollars. from International Standerd Securities
Limited. in his account overseas. I am therefore writing to ask you to quietly partner with me by providing an account
or set up a new one that will serve the purpose of receiving this fund. Even an empty account can also serve as long
as you prove to be honest to me till the end of the deal. I hope you will never let me down.

I am ready to give you the sum of Seven million, five hundred thousand Dollars.for your assistance and partnership with me.
If this proposal satisfies you, Please, get back to me with your telephone number so that i call you and let you know the next
thing to do.



I look forward to your prompt reply.

Mr. Greg Amatha.

Anti-fraud resources: