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. Dominica Gbagbo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dominicagbagbo@terra.com>
Date: Sat, 16 May 2015 10:42:20 +0200
Subject: Re: Hope For The Motherless Kids

Good Day,
 
CAN I TRUST YOU FOR THIS PROJECT
 
As a born philanthropist, I have the vision to set up a humanitarian/charity home with the assistance of a trusted and sincere person.
 
As I write this mail to you, I am hospitalized; several medical reports confirmed that I have limited time to live on earth and that is why am using this opportunity to contact you. I decided to adjust my Written WILL & TESTAMENT to channel all my wealth to Charity through anyone who can be trusted in utilizing the funds strictly on humanitarian.
 
The fund is of no use after death, therefore; the less privileged can have it instead of the bank managers and evil cousins who wanted me dead for a very long time.
 
Vision Of the Charity Home have been drafted by the lawyer and other legal backup documents will be forwarded to you as soon as I receive your reply.
 
Mrs. Dominica Gbagbo
Email:  dominicagbagbo@terra.com

Anti-fraud resources: