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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <genepaulus@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 10:33:16 +0100
Subject: Good Will

Hello,

I have a business proposition for you which involves $5,000,000:00.

You do not have to invest any of your hard earned money, I am in a good financial position to finance the process, I need your help with Banking and Investment of the said funds and I will be willing to offer
you 25% of the $5,000,000:00. (Negotiable)

Please get back to me so I can give a detailed explanation on this transaction.

Awaiting your urgent and favorable response.

Gene Paulus

Anti-fraud resources: