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: Ebunie Johnson Nzewi <mrebuniejohnsonnzewi@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrebuniejohnsonnzewi@live.com
Date: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 02:09:42 -0600
Subject: Re:Greetings to you ,

Greetings to you , This is to officially notify you on the unclaimed fund left by my late client , who was burnt to death with his entire family , in when their car collided with a trailer while they are coming back from a holiday in a resort off the town. As the personal lawyer of the deceased and the trustee of his estate, I am contacting you believing that you are his relatives because he is from your country and share the same last name with you so if you response I can present you for the claim of US$8.5 million he left in a bank here in our country. I will inform you more once I receive positive response from you. May his soul rest in peace Amen. Barrister Ebunie Johnson Nzewi Senior Advocate, Johnson & Co. chambers Lome, Togo

Anti-fraud resources: