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"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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Federal Bureau of Investigation" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fbicybercrimewatch@aol.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 09:28:43 -0700
Subject: CONTACT US FBI

FBI Headquarters
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

This is to notify you that huge funds valued at 8.3million Dollars have been transferred into your account. This transfer was stopped today by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) because our verification showed that you do not possess the Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer (DIST) to show that this fund is legit and rightly belongs to you.

Do reply to this e-mail so we can direct you accordingly where you will obtain this legal wiring document to fully authorize the crediting of your fund into your main account.

FBI Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division
Special Agent, Michael J. Heimbach
FBI's Washington Field Office

Anti-fraud resources: