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: MR KEN BENSON <sabinacall@alice.it>
Reply-To: westernofficenig@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 7 Jun 2014 03:52:11 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Attention

Attention
IMF have finally arranged to TRANSFER your FUNDS worth $2.5m through
the WESTERN UNION. We were able to accomplish this through the help of
IMF director Mrs Linda Ikeji and every necessary arrangement been made
successfully with Mr.Ken Benson.Contact him: Mr.
Ken Benson. Telephone:+22999134756
Email(westernofficenig@yahoo.com) by Contact WE NEED YOUR
information, your phone number,address,QUESTION AND ANSWER your
receiver's name.Yours Sincerely Mrs.Elena Frame

Anti-fraud resources: