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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: "Mr. Frederick" <iphone@mail.relentlesstechnology.com>
Reply-To: tsanyihan1952@yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2015 18:04:41 -0500
Subject: Re: Get back

Greetings,

I am Mr. Frederick, a 75yr old citizen of the U.S, I live here in Syria
with my family,
I was operating a successful Real Estate firm before the uprising started.
I got your email contact which searching through google, which made me
believe you are an honest person and so I can place my trust in you.
I need to leave Syria with my family to invest in a more peaceful country,
but due
to the challenges Im facing here, I need assistance in moving my
money, USD3.5m as I cannot leave the boarders of Syria with it.
write back for more explanation as to how you and I can work together
to get this money sent to you.

Thank you
Mr. Frederick

Anti-fraud resources: