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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.

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.Stella Ellis" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ellismrsstella@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 May 2015 05:48:08 -0700
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU ?

Dear Friend,
 
I came across your identity and contact in my desperate quest to successfully locate the
next of kin to an account file forwarded to my desk for liquidation. I am Mrs.Stella
, I work with the legal department of a local financial institution.
 
 
My job here is to see that any unclaimed account is certified and confirmed UNCLAIMED
before final liquidation instruction is passed on any such account file.
 
With the above explanation of my responsibility in carrying out my duty, it became very
important that I make contact with you because an account currently valued at USD 15.3
Million (Fifteen million, three hundred Thousand US Dollars) was
forwarded to my office for final search of next of kin to the deceased account holder
file, the account in question was last operated in April 2005 and by law is due for
liquidation.
 
I have tried to locate the next of kin to this account all to no avail. In my quest to
locate such person, I came across your identity. Coincidentally you bear similarity with
the identity of account holder and this is the major reason why i have contacted you.
 
I have been mandated to certify the next of kin to this account before the liquidation
within thirty    official working days,  Therefore I seize this opportunity to make a
confidential proposal to you as follows: -
 
We both work together on this file; I will use my official capacity to front you as the
next of kin to this account file. files relating to this account will be amended to suit
this claim as soon as you have agreed work  with me. Please kindly respond to this
letter via my private Email address for further clarification:
I also want to guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate framework that
will protect you from any breach of the Law here and in your country. I will await your
positive response to this mail as soon as possible.
 
Sincerely,
Mrs.Stella Ellis.
 

Anti-fraud resources: