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: "Barr. Paul A. Thomas." <admin@vps.com>
Reply-To: paulthomasun@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 15:14:53 -0000
Subject: Unclaimed Funds.




I take liberty anchored on strong desire to solicit for your assistance on
this mutual beneficial and risk free transaction. There is an urgent and
genuine need for the transfer of an Unclaimed lottery prize money. The
fund is already tied down securely as receivables and will be transferred
to your individual/company account if you agree to partner with me in this
business deal. At the completion of this transaction the sharing rates
would be 60% for me, 40% for you.

I am Bar. Paul A. Thomas, Esq. an attorney at law based in London. I work
with the British National Lottery cooperation as an accredited
claims/legal attorney for the processing and notarization of won lottery
prize money of claimants. I have in my custody all necessary legal
documents and rights to process in your names an unclaimed lottery prize
money valued US$1,700,000. My proposition is to process the legal
documents in your names and purported present your good self to the paying
bank as as the winner and rightful beneficiary of the unclaimed lottery
prize money. I must use this opportunity to implore you to exercise the
utmost indulgence to keep this matter extraordinarily confidential, while
I await your prompt response with the below details for us to proceed:

1, Full names.
2, Private phone and fax numbers
3, Current residential address
4, Occupation
5, Age.


I look forward to your early reply,
Barr. Paul A. Thomas.
Email: paulthomasun@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: