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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: Mr. Frank Edward <info@office.co.uk>
Reply-To: mrfrankedward03@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 04:30:48 +0700
Subject: READ AND GET BACK TO ME!!

Dear Friend.

I am Mr. Frank Edward, I work in a Bank as an account officer to late Mr. Roman Blum who happened to has a deposit sum of $8.5 Million USD with our Bank Before he died of illness last year. I have try to contact any of his relative without a success, this is the reason why i send this mail to you. I want you to stand as his relative so that our Bank can release this Fund to you. With my help as his account officer everything will be okay if only you can follow my instructions. He has no heirs to all his Fund and Estates.

All I need from you now is your FULL NAME,CELL PHONE NO, CONTACT ADDRESS, OCCUPATION and DATE OF BIRTH. This is what i need from you to present to our Bank for the claim as the beneficiary of the Fund. As soon as our Bank release the Fund to you, we will invest the Fund in re-estate or any other business you may advise.

Sincerely
Mr. Frank Edward

Anti-fraud resources: