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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: "Miss Helen Anthony" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <attiphe1@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2015 05:42:13 -0600
Subject: Greetings to you,

Greetings to you,
 
My Name is Ms Helen Anthony, the only child and daughter of late Mr & Mrs Edward Anthony. My father was a highly reputable business man (A COCOA DEALER). He died of food poison after returning from one of his business trip from abroad on the 15th of June 2013. It is sad to say that his sudden death was linked with and masterminded by his brother who traveled with him at that time. But God knows the truth! My mother died when I was just 6 years old, and since then my father took me so special.
 
Before my father gave up to death in a private hospital, he called me on the bed side and told me that he has the sum of US$4.500.000.( FOUR MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) left in a fix deposit account in one of the prime bank in the city. He also told me the he put my name as his next of kin in the deposit paper and also in the written (WILL) he made with his lawyer. Now this my father's brother is after my life and the money, so for this reason i run out of my father's house.
 
Please I want you to help me in transfering this total money into a safe bank account in your country, after the transaction I will come over and by your help I could settle down and plan my future.This is because I have suffered a lot of set backs as a result of the death of my father and coupled with the circumstances sorrounding the status of the deposit. The death of my father actually brought sorrow to my life. I am in a sincere desire of your humble assistance to stand on my behalf and claim out this money from the bank and have it transfer to your safe bank account in abroad, I wish to invest this money under your care so please Your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded.
 
Please, Consider this and get back to me as soon as possible, send your reply to (attiphe1@yahoo.com)
 
Regards,
Miss Helen Anthony.

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