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: MONEY-GRAM PAYMENT OFFICE <enemmaluke299@gmail.com>
Reply-To: MONEY-GRAM PAYMENT OFFICE <office.file1978@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 11:04:01 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: PAYMENT UPDATE


 ATTENTION!
Information reaching us from our corporate headquarters here in lagos, nigeria, states that you only have 48-hours to effect your payment for the activation of your reference number to enable you cash up your first $3,500.00 from your total fund of ( usd$700.000.00) seven hundred thousand united state dollars) since you are finding it difficult to make this payment we have decided that you are to go ahead and pay whatever you have  from usd$99.00 upward out of the the total fee of $299 for the activation fee since you are not able to come up with the required charge, time is of the essence here.you are to pay what ever you have for the activation fee and we will activate your reference number upon receipt of this payment.
Be informed that you will have to pay the balance fee of your activation upon cashing up of your first usd$3,500. 00 also i am using this medium to inform you that failure to pay the balance charge will leave us with no option but to deactivate your reference number of which you will and can never cash up the balance fee, i want you to send the activation fee with the information bellow.
Please any amount you send let us know and you can send us the reference number immediately you send the money and immediately we confirm the activation fee we will send you the first receipt of your usd$3,500.00 at the same day. Incase you don't have money-gram in your area you can use western union money transfer because we have both western and moneygram here and your payment will be redirected to western union too. Receiver name:......okechukwu josephCountry:............nigeriaState:..............lagosAddress:............23 ,shanu street, awolowo road, ikeja, lagos, nigeriaTest question:......honestTest answer:........trust.Reference number:.......... You are entitle to receive your payment today if you do send the money today as well. We are waiting to hear from you today with the fee to enable this department to release your payment immediately. E-mail: office.file1978@gmail.com, Telephone#: +234 810 966 1588
Thank You.Larry paul

Anti-fraud resources: