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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. Quan" <quan900@boc.cn>
Reply-To: q.han53@qq.com
Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 14:26:36 -0700
Subject: Re: Write Back For More Information!!!

Hello,

Compliments of the day to you and I believe all is well. My name is Mr. Quan Han and I work in bank of china,Beijing. I have a transaction that I believe will be of mutual benefits to both of us. It involves an investment portfolio worth(8.370million USD) placed in our bank some years ago,belonging to a customer in my bank who died in intestate, for security reasons, he did not state his next of kin in his account document, which I like to acquire with your help and assistance, Proceeds will be shared 50/50.
Yours sincerely,
Quan Han.

Anti-fraud resources: