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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <anthonywwilliam01@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 19:49:34 +0100
Subject: PLEASE CONFIRM TRANSFER NOTIFICATION.

FBI Headquarters
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
 
Good Day:
 
PLEASE CONFIRM TRANSFER NOTIFICATION.
 
A notice was sent to our office by Dr. Jim Yong Kim, World Bank President. that your $10,500,000.00 USD (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) contract/inheritance fund awarded to you years ago by the United Nations was transferred into the U.S Treasury Account via online banking wire transfer with immediate instruction to remit the fund into your Bank account.
 
We want to know if you have receive your fund from U.S Treasury Office. We are waiting for your kind respond.
 
Anthony William
Head Audit Dept
FBI Special Agent

Anti-fraud resources: