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: "Sis Rose Jones" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mikelindy46@yahoo.es>
Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2015 05:26:03 +0700
Subject: My name is Sis ROSE JONES.

May the peace of God abide with you Amen.
 
My name is Sis ROSE JONES. It took me time to summon courage before Emailing you this private letter, am suffering from long time cancer, my condition is serious and according to my late husband doctor, I might not survive it, my late husband deposited Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars (US$7.5M) in an Escrow Telephone Account (E.T.A) in a bank, after he disclosed this to me on his hospital sick bed, he gave me Deposit Certificate he used in Depositing the Fund.
 
The reason he told me about this secret deposit was that after his death, his relatives will not allow me to inherit his property since we are not yet legally married but I have a child for him, my late husband told me that I can get the fund claimed through the help of a foreigner like you as a clause on the account.
It's obvious my health is critical, I'm scared i might not survive it, I prayed to God and asked him to direct an honest person who will claim this fund and use it along with me for the things that will glorify the name of God, after my prayers, I decided to contact you.
 
I will appreciate if you send the following information to enable my late husband lawyer who will stand as your representative here in Thailand assist you process and obtain all the necessary documents that will backup the claim.
1. your full name.
2. Your contact address.
3. Your telephone/fax numbers for prompt communication.
Thanks and God bless you as soon as I hear from you for more details.
Sis Rose Jones.

Anti-fraud resources: