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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: "Mr. John Mensah" <chiara@salviharps.com>
Reply-To: <mr.johnmensah119@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 17:34:03 -0800
Subject: Please Your Urgent Needed

With all due respect,

I am (Mr. John Mensah) head of the audit department in my bank. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of $7,300,000 US dollars. In an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers who are a Gold Trader from your country and happen to have the same surname with you

Please i want you to stand as heir to the deceased. I agree that 50% of this money will be for you and 50% would be for me.

I await your immediate reaction when you get this message for more details

Yours sincerely,

Mr. John Mensah

Anti-fraud resources: