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: "United Nations" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mohmmad@qq.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 04:47:05 -0700
Subject: Attention Dear..

Attention Dear.
 
How are you today? Hope all is well with you and family? You may not understand why this mail came to you. We have been having a meeting for the passed 7 months which ended 2 days ago with the then secretary to the UNITED NATIONS. This email is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of the world, the UNITED NATIONS have agreed to compensate them with the sum of US$6.7 each.
 
This includes every foreign contractors that may have not received their contract sum, and people that have had an unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc. We find your name and E-mail in our list and that is why we are contacting you, this has been agreed upon and has been signed. You are advised to contact Mr. Mohd Aziz, of our paying center in Asia, as he is our representative in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia contact him immediately for your ATM MASTER CARD worth of US$6.7M this funds are in an ATM MASTER CARD for security purpose.
 
He will send it to you and you can start withdrawing your fund immediately in any ATM MACHINE around the world. Therefore, you should send him your full Name, Telephone number, ID card and your correct mailing address where you want him to send the ATM MASTER CARD to you. Contact Mr. Mohd Aziz, immediately for your ATM MASTER CARD with the information below.
 
Person to Contact: Mr. Mohd Aziz.
Email ( mohmmad@qq.com )
 
Thanks and God bless you and your family. Hope to hear from you as soon as you received your ATM MASTER CARD. Make the world a better place.
 
Regards,
 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.
http://www.un.org/sg/

Anti-fraud resources: