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: "Sterling Bank Plc" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <info@sterlingng.tk>
Date: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:36:15 +0100
Subject: Dear Customer.

Sterling Bank Plc
Sterling Towers 20 Marina P.M.B. 12735
Lagos, Nigeria.
Ref: stg/ng/012014
 
Dear Customer,
 
Your email address has been forwarded to us and it is among the list to be compensated with ATM DEBIT CARD of $1.3M by the World Bank in conjunction with the Nigeria Government for this year 2014. And we are duly inter-switched which you can make withdrawal in any location of the ATM Center of your choice/nearest to you any where in the world.
 
You are expected to forward your Name, Delivery address and telephone number to proceed.
 
We will be expecting your response.
 
Thanks,
Lanre Adesanya
Assistant Manager.

Anti-fraud resources: