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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: "United Nations" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <s.wright@admin.in.th>
Date: Tue, 3 Jun 2014 15:39:39 +0400
Subject: UN Compensation Category Award®

United Nations Compensation Dept
Directorate of International Transactions
Transfer/Audit Unit

Our Ref: WB/NF/UN/XX02014.

Your name/email came up for this United Nations compensation Award of $400,000. We hereby wish to inform you on this ONE-TIME opportunity to claim your fund. Failure to comply with us on this regards within 1 weeks, your name and details will be erased and your fund returned.

Provide us with the below details to facilitate processing within 12 hours.

Name:
Address:
Telephone
Sex:

Thank you and Congratulations once more.

Susan Wright
Int. Transfer Dept
United Nations, USA
E: s.wright@admin.in.th
T: 347-348-0960, 347-778-2438,
202-599-9562, 805-244-1553
F: 707-735-8217, 855-811-4828

Anti-fraud resources: