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: "MRS HATTIE P PATTERSON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrshattieppatterson2375@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 2015 11:37:30 -0000
Subject: YOUR ATM PAYMENT IS READY TO BE DELIVERED TO YOU NOW?

ATTENTION BENEFICIARY:

THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT THERE IS AN ATM CARD IN THIS OFFICE THAT IS DEPOSITED BY A PRIVATE ORGANIZATION BODY ON THE 5th OF THIS MONTH.YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS WAS ATTACHED TO IT AND IS TO BE POSTED TO YOU. WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO CONTACT US FOR YOUR CONFIRMABLE ATM CARD WHICH CONTAINS THE SUM OF $2.5MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS AND SOME VITAL DOCUMENTS.SO KINDLY GET BACK TO THIS OFFICE (REGULAR MAIL POST OFFICE NIGERIA) TO AVOID FRAUDULENT ISSUES CONCERNING THIS SERVICE.

YOU ARE TO CONFIRM AND PROVIDE TO US YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS BELOW.

YOUR FULL NAME:.................
YOUR COUNTRY:....................
YOUR CITY:..............................
YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS:......
YOUR DIRECT PHONE:...........

NOTE: THAT YOU ARE TO PAY FOR THE DUTY STAMP FEE OF $75 USD. YOU ARE ADVISE TO SEND THE DUTY STAMP FEE THROUGH WESTERN UNION TO THE POST OFFICE WITH THE OUR PRACTICAL OFFICER'S NAME BELOW AND FORWARD THE PAYMENT INFORMATION TO THE POST OFFICE EMAIL (mrshattieppatterson2375@gmail.com) FOR IMMEDIATE STAMP OF YOUR ATM CARD.

RECEIVER'S NAME...... HALIM OZOR
COUNTRY.....NIGERIA
CITY....LAGOS
QUESTION....HOW LONG
ANSWER.....TODAY
AMOUNT......$75 USD
SENDER'S NAME........
MTCN NUMBER:........


THANKS
YOUR BEST REGARD'S
MRS HATTIE P PATTERSON

Anti-fraud resources: