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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: "Francis" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.brianfrancis@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2012 13:17:48 +0300
Subject: IMMEDIATE PAYMENT NOTIFICATION

Dear value customer,

we write to inform you that your available fund with our bank has been approved for payment.

Therefore you are requested to provide this information as follows.

Full Name
Current Home Address
City
Zip Code
Telephone Number
Identity such as International Passport or driver License.

As soon as we receive this detail we shall upload the total fund amounting $2.5 million usd in the Master Card and send to you, Note you have to pay for the delivery fee to courier to your location.

As soon as we receive the details we shall do the needful and get back to you.

Thanks for your cooperation.

Best regards
Brian Francis


Anti-fraud resources: