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: "Mr. Sawyer Stanley" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sawyer.stanley0@rediffmail.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Feb 2014 13:53:25 +0100
Subject: Fund Transfer To You

Hello My Dear,
 
I Hope that you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose on you for mutual benefit of both our families. I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of (US$22.5M) to any bank account you may provide within 10 or 14 banking days.
 
The money was deposited by a deceased customer who died including his family and his supposed next of kin on 25 Dec. 2003 Boeing 727 plane crash in Cotonou-Benin Republic. Hence I need your assistance to claim the funds.
 
This money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim and I want the bank to release the money to you as the located next of kin to the deceased, and if we do not act urgently; the money will be confiscated as unclaimed and I don't want to lose this good chance or allow the money to go into government treasury as an abandoned fund.
 
The bank will release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased. I am in the position to guide you towards this transaction and all I need from you is to stand as the NEXT OF KIN, so that upon your request for immediate transfer of the money the bank will not hesitate to transfer to your designated bank account.
 
If you accept this offer to work with me and find this proposal suitable for you do reply back to me through my below private email let’s discuss in details, upon the receive of your reply I will also forward to you the procedure and Please; I would like you to keep this proposal as a top secret or delete it if you are not interested.
E-mail: sawyer.stanley0@rediffmail.com
 
Thanks,
Mr. Sawyer Stanley
sawyer.stanley0@rediffmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: