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: "Miss. Ellie Ashiribo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ellieashiribo2@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2015 09:38:40 -0700
Subject: I need your response please,uu

Hello Dear,
 
Compliments of the day. My name is Miss. Ellie Ashiribo. I am 20 years of age . I came from Sudan but presently residing in Nigeria under Government asylum. I got your contact email on Internet while searching for a trusted personality I can confide on. I lost my parent in the crisis that is going on in my Country and I decided to run for my dear life. I am writing to seek your kind assistance to stand as my foreign trustee to retrieve $10,500,000.00 USD ( Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars ) which I inherited from my late parent.
 
My father before his death deposited this amount with one of the leading Bank in Nigeria and he used my name as the next of kin, but with under a clause that I must attend the age of 30 before the Bank could allow me access to the funds or I provide a foreign trustee who could lead me with the investment of the funds outside Africa.
 
I am therefore soliciting for your kind and matured assistance to receive the transfer of this funds into your account and also help me to secure documents that will permit me to fly over to your Country to further up my Education, while you manage the investment of the funds under a written agreement.
 
I want you to return this email only if you are really willing to assist me with all your heart, so that I can give you more details. 
 
Regards,
Miss. Ellie Ashiribo.

Anti-fraud resources: