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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: "thimisux8@libero.it" <thimisux8@libero.it>
Date: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 07:02:15 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Greetings to you

Greetings to you
I believe you are a highly placed person considering the fact that I got your
email from a human resource database of your country. I request you treat what
I am about telling you with seriousness and confidentiality.
Well, I am Miss. Thitima from Thailand, a banker. I was the account officer to
a late customer (name withheld for security reasons) who was an exporter of
rice from Thailand. On the 21st of July 2008, he died in his sleep as a result
of heart related illness. Before his death, I helped him deposit the sum of
12.3 million US Dollars as fixed deposit with our bank. The said deposit has
long matured and no one has not shown up for the claim. All efforts made to
reach any of his relatives have proved unsuccessful and the money deposited
will soon be lost to the government if the claim is not made immediately.
All I require now is your honest cooperation to enable me present you as the
beneficiary of his deposit in order to claim the deposited money with our bank.
It does not matter if you knew him or not or whether he is related to you or
not, you can successfully make the claim as long as you are not here in
Thailand. Everything will be made easy by me once you are ready to co-operate
with me. The fund shall be shared into two equal parts between the both of us
when the claim is made. I guarantee that this will be done under a legitimate
arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law both here and in
your country. If you can help, write back for me to give you more details.
Thank you.
Miss. Thitima
Contact me with this email, mthit221@live.com

Anti-fraud resources: