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: "Steve William" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <stevewill8750@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 2015 05:38:25 -0600
Subject: Hi Friend,

Greetings,

I am Mr. Steve William, a texan. I work with the Barclays bank Plc London office. I sincerely write to seek your co-operation and trust, to enable me carry out an urgent business opportunity in my department. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of 7.4 million Pounds (Seven million four hundred thousand Pounds ) in an account that belongs to one Late MR. Smidt Brian Sidney who unfortunately lost his life in the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 which crashed on January 31/2000, including his wife and only daughter.

It is therefore upon this discovery that I and my colleauge in my department now decided to do business with you by releasing the funds to you as his next of kin for safety keeping, and subsequent disburse the funds, since nobody is coming for it. We have agreed to offer you 35% for your assistance immediately the funds is transfered to you as the Next of Kin. Below are the requirements to facilitate the transfer process:

Your full Names
Your home address
Your age
Your business/occupation
Your private telephone and fax numbers.

All the relevant information to authenticate you as the next of kin shall be forwarded to you, upon my receipt of the above requested information. Note: This business is %100 risk free and please keep this transaction as a top secret between us to avoid involving third party. Kindly forward your reply to my private email address, which is: for obvious security reasons. E-mail: stevewill8750@yahoo.com

Best regards
Mr. Steve William,
International remittance dept,
Knightsbridge International
Office London

Anti-fraud resources: