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: "Lei" <ghirardi@ictp.it>
Reply-To: leiwang20@qq.com
Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2014 11:01:03 +0100
Subject: Treat As Immediate

Dear Mr/Mrs,

Let me start by introducing myself. I am Lei Wang, Executive Director and
Chief Financial Officer of Bank of China (Hong Kong).

I will need you to assist me in executing this Business Project from Hong
Kong to your country. fifty five millions United State Dollars only in my
branch.

Please endeavour to observe utmost discretion in all matters concerning this issue. Once the funds have been transferred to your nominated bank account we shall then share in the ratio of 70% for me, 30% for you. If you are interested please get back to me. Finally after that I shall provide you with more details of this operation.

Kind Regards,
Lei

Anti-fraud resources: