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: "Mary Wells." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <abiolajames63@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 15 May 2012 05:34:37 +0200
Subject: Very Important Message Regarding Your Fund Release

Hello My Dear,


I sincerely apologize for contacting you without due permission or under-going due process. I was left with no choice than to contact you immediately because I consider this information very Urgent and Emergency. You will agree with me that experience is the best teacher as we say. I have had a lot of bad and hurtful experiences from some Internet Scammers. I received over 50 mail each day telling me to claim my inheritance Funds worth Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United Stated Dollars. I fell to this trap and I lost thousands of Dollar to this scammer. I will never forgive those Bastards from Africa to be specific Nigeria, Ghana, Togo and United Kingdom.


I am pleased to inform you that I am one of the happiest women on Earth now because I was contacted by the Federal High Court Officials who directed me to the Real Organization in charge of my Funds. Now I have my funds directly transferred to my Bank Account My self through an Online Banking account. I will have to enjoy the rest of my life and family with this Fund .I will resign my job on the 23rd of May, 2012. Because i have no reason to keep working when I have enough Funds to set up my own establishment and to take care of my family.


Now you will be surprised how I got to know you. I was with the Federal High Court Official to sign and approve the Transfer of my Funds to my Bank (Bank of America). I saw your name and e-mail address among the Beneficiaries of this Funds.


I felt very sorry for those names and e-mail contacts because I know they might have been scammed by those Bastard. I quickly write out your email address and your information. This is why I am contacting you today.


If you have received any mail asking you to make any form of payment to get your Funds. I advice you to ignore such mail now and contact the Federal High Court Official in charge of the Release of your Over Due Funds. If you can contact him now, he is going to process your Funds Papers immediately and you will have your Funds transferred to your Bank Account within the next 24-48hours. But you will be required to pay for the Fund Release Certificate that will cost you the amount of 380USD . You are advice to provide your information to prove that you are the real owner and Beneficiary of these Funds. You can contact Barrister James Abiola via e-mail as stated below:


Federal High Court Of Justice
Name: Barrister James Abiola
Email Address: abiolajames63@yahoo.com

My Dear Friend, I hope I have been able to help and prevent you from falling a scam victim to those insolent bastards. Please feel very free to get back to me if you need more information on this, i will be willing to help. Bye for now.


Utmost Regards,
Mary Wells.


Anti-fraud resources: