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: Manuel Jose <manueljose0101@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: Manuel Jose <mrmanueljose1968@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 16:11:10 +0000 (UTC)
Subject:


Dear Sir,
 My name is Mr. Manuel Jose an audit  officer in European Central Bank (BCE)Paris France.We can be  of immense benefit to each other. In my department we  discovered an abandoned sum of $16 Million (Sixteen Million US  Dollars)in an account that belongs to one of our foreign
 customers,a late Engineer from your country who worked with  Shell Oil Company and
 unfortunately lost his life on a TAM  airlines commercial jet crash in Sao Paulo, Tuesday, July  17, 2007 and burst into flames after skidding off a runway  across a busy highway.


 All 176 people on board were  feared dead in what would be Brazil’s deadliest air
 disaster, and at least 15 were killed on he ound,
http://chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-07/18/content_5438453.htm
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/gallery/070718/GAL-07Jul18-1840/index.html

 I have contacted you to assist in  repatriating the fund valued at $16.000.000.00 Millions US  Dollars left behind by my client before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the European Central Bank(BCE)  Paris France where this huge amount was deposited. The
 said  European Central Bank  (BCE) Paris France has issued me a notice to provide the
 next of kin or have his account confiscated within the next twenty one official working days.

 Since I have been unsuccessfully in  locating the relatives for over one and half years now, I  seek your consent to present you as the next of kin to the  deceased since you a foreigner, so that the proceeds of this  account can be paid to you. Therefore, on receipt of your  positive response, we shall  then discuss the sharing ratio and modalities for transfer.
 I have all necessary information and legal documents needed to back you up for claim. All I require from you is your  honest cooperation to enable us see this through. I  guarantee that this will be executed under legitimate  arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the  Law.

 Best regards.
 Mr. Manuel Jose
 


Anti-fraud resources: