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: Chow Chang <cchang52@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 8 Jun 2014 19:18:18 +0200
Subject: greetings


Hello,
I am Mr. Chow Chang the Executive Director of Hang Seng Bank,Hong Kong. Our client Major Fadi Basem died with his entire family during the US war in Iraq. Before his death, He made a huge deposit (Some millions of US dollars) with my Bank here in Hong Kong. I have made all effort to contact any of his surviving family member but has been futile.I write you seeking your partnership to stand as the next of kin to him to enable us claim the funds and have it shared. Write back to my private email: chowchang@hotmail.com with your contact details if interested for more details

My Esteemed Regards,
Mr. Chow Chang

Anti-fraud resources: