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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: "Gerry Mallon" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gerrymallon04@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Apr 2014 18:40:19 -0700
Subject: Payment

From;Mr.Gerry Mallon
Danske Bank
London,
United Kingdom

Hello,
VERY CRUCIAL
I know that this message will come to you as a surprise since we do
not know each other before,I am Mr.Gerry Mallon of the above mentioned bank
in United Kingdom,I'm an executive of Danske Bank.

There is an account opened in my bank many years ago,and the owner of
the said account was a Late German business man who died of heart failure in
2001 without relatives nor next of kin to stand as a claim/beneficiary to
this man's money, and the amount involve is 25 million Euros
(25,000.000.00EUR) only.
Nevertheless,I have been managing the account until his death to this moment.

No other person/persons know about this account or anything concerning it,
the account has no other beneficiary.
I am only contacting you because this money cannot be approved to a local account here, but can only
be approved to any foreign beneficiary because the original owner of the
account was a foreigner.

I will use my position and influence to effect legal approvals and onward
transfer of this money to your account with appropriate clearance forms of
the ministries and foreign exchange departments.
With my position in the bank, this transaction will take us 5 banking days
to complete.
At the conclusion of this transaction, you will be given 40% of the total
amount,while 60% will be for me.
Note that with my position in the bank, this transaction can only take us 5
to 6 banking days to complete.
I will fly as soon as the money is transferred to your account to meet
you for sharing and investment.

I wait your urgent response.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Gerry Mallon

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