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: "Alhaji Lawal Idris" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lawalidris2014@yandex.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 18:17:52 -0400
Subject: MY GREETINGS TO YOU

Attention pls, My name is Alhaji Lawal Idris direct Wire transfer C.B.N, after a serious thought based on my current position, I decided to reach you personally because I do not have anything against you, but the person that involved you in this transaction. In years back your greedy (claimed) partner approached me and requested that I assist him to fix your name on the Payment Central Computer as beneficiary for transfer deal with arrangement to transfer huge amount of money by registering you as the legal beneficiary. We agreed that i will get 30% of the total fund, 40% for YOU and 30% for him. After i programmed your name on the payment computer as the legal beneficiary, He started playing with me trying to push me out of the business completely that was why I changed the information without his notice. Which made it impossible for you to receive the payment no-matter what both of you tried. I am aware that you have been contacted several officials to get approvals but all efforts were to no success. Rather they keep demanding fees ON and ON. NOW IF YOU WANT US TO WORK TOGETHER HERE ARE MY CONDITIONS. (I)You MUST promise me NOT to allow ANY OTHER PERSON know about this and I will have 50% of the money then 50% for you because it is only two of us. Again you must keep it highly confidential and secret. (2) We can conclude the transaction with utmost SECRET and CONFIDENTIAL if you agree to adhere to my directives based on these conditions being acceptable by you, contact me immediately to enable us finalize all the arrangement. As soon as we agree, i will perfect the arrangements on your behalf also update your fill to have a smooth transfer both now and after the money have gotten into your account. If you do not agreed with my condition, i will advise you, NOT TO EVEN REPLY because there is no way you can conclude the transfer without my notice, I still remain the director Foreign Payments. I WAIT YOUR REPLY ONLY ON THIS EMAIL Regards. Alhaji Lawal Idris

Anti-fraud resources: