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: " Zulu Joseph Mbeki" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zulujosephmbeki@lawyer.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2014 20:13:03 +0200
Subject: Good Day..

Good Day,
I am the Special Adviser on Petroleum/Crude Oil Allocation to the Late Musa 'Yar Dua the President ofFederal Republic of Nigeria,before his death, the President has instructed me  to allocate an Oil Block Allocation to the tune of $85M to a private account which was deposited in a blank beneficiary account name omitted, Any foreign name can be presented to the paying bank for the payment which will be accepted by the bank,provided the  person must not be a Nigerian citizen.
We intend to use this money for real estate business.or on any profitable business you may wish to advice us upon.If you are interested kindly indicate your  interest. It was resolved and agreed that your fund  will  be release to you via direct wire transfer. You are to get back to this office with Your Full name, Address, Phone, to claim your fund.
Thanks,
  
Zulu Joseph Mbeki

Anti-fraud resources: