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: "Dr.Leon Cheng" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dr.leoncheng@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2013 11:57:25 -0400
Subject: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY, I NEED A CONFIRMATION,PLEASE GET BACK TO ME URGENTLY.

Attention ,
 
Intructions from United Nations Asia Division Office.
 
First of all i apologize for any inconvenience this email might have caused you but as the new managing officer here in this bank i feel its my duty to get this office back in shape and dispose of every unfinished transaction which the last person in charge left undone.
My Name is Dr.Leon Cheng and by the grace of God i am the new Manager of The United Nations Public Payment centre here in Asia. I resumed office some few weeks back after the demise of the previous Manager. That noted, i am sending you this email because all banks and private and public payment centres here have been given strict orders from the UN President Ban Ki Moon to make sure all funds whose beneficiaries are abroad should be cleared and transferred to their original beneficiaries.
Like i said earlier, I am new here and i would need a little help from you as i have gone through lots of files here and i am ready to get my job started. During my sorting the files, I came across a file section with beneficiaries and in it i found an email address and contact details and information stating the person with the contact details  is to receive the sum of Nine Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ($9.5Million United States Dollars).
 
So, I am mailing you to comfirm your details i found and please i would want you to be honest with me, if you aren't the person with the details and information's ,please, let me know honestly. I will really appreciate your time,honesty and sincerity.
Get back to me with your information for comfirmation.
Full Names: , Nationality:  Country of Residence:      Contact Phone Number:, Residential/office Address:                                   
 
Please do re-confirm your information as this office is waiting for your urgent reply.
 
Regards,
Dr Leon Cheng.
The Manager
 

Anti-fraud resources: