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"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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: David Tau <dtauza4@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Mar 2015 17:55:36 +0200
Subject:

Hello,
My name is Mr. David Tau, an auditor with African Development Bank (ADB)
South Africa. There was an account opened in this bank in 1980 and since
2001 nobody has operated on this account again.The owner of this account is
Mr. Ben DREDO, a foreign business man, and a geologist by profession and
he died in 2001.

The account has no other beneficiary and my investigation proved to me as
well that his company does not know anything about this account. The amount
involved is Ten Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars.

With my position now in the office we can transfer this money to any
foreign reliable bank account, which you can provide with assurance that
this money will be intact pending my physical arrival in your country for
sharing and investment.

I am willing to give you 40% of the total amount and 50% would be for me
while 10% will be for any expenses that might be incored in this
transaction including legal fees and travel costs.

I look forward to your earliest reply.

Yours Faithfully,
Mr. David Tau.

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