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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: "Dr.Frank Ben" <dr_frankbenoo1@yahoo.com>
Date: 3 Mar 2013 01:37:20 -0800
Subject: Good News (From Frank Ben)

From: Dr.Frank Ben. Address:19 Fieldside. Whitburn. Sunderland.Tyne & Wear. United Kingdom . Occupations: External Auditor Hello, I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met before. I Hope that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for the mutual benefit of our both families. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of £38,000,000.00 (Thirty Eight Million British Pounds Sterlings) Immediately to your account. The fund has been dormant (in-active) for 12 years in our Financial Institution here in London without any body coming for it. I want to release the fund to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the owner of the account) who died along with his supposed next of kin in air crash since on 31st July 2000. The Bank will release the fund to you as the nearest person to the deceased customer. For more information about the crash you can visit this site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm I thus propose to do business with you, standing in as the next of kin of these funds from the deceased and after due legal processes have been followed the fund will be released to your account without delay and we will use it for investment and to assist the less privileged in the Society because if we leave the fund with the government it will be fortified for nothing and will be used to suppress the poor masses in the society.This transaction is totally free of risk as the fund is legitimate and does not originate from drug, money laundry or any other illegal act. Please I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not interested. Upon receipt of your reply, I will give you more details regarding this transaction. Finally, you will have 50% of the above mentioned amount and 50% for me hence it's two person's business. I need to hear from you urgently so that I will give you more information regarding this transaction. {1} Your Name/company's name and full address:............. {2} Bank Name:.......... {3} Bank Address......... {4} Account No:............ {5} Swift Code or Routing # {6} Account Holder's Name: ............ {7} Your telephone Number both Home, Office & Cell/Mobile and fax Numbers:........ {8} Your Occupation:......... I look forward to hear from you as soon as possible if you are interest Regards, Dr.Frank Ben.

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