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: Mira A S <andrew.s9907@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mira_nurul5476@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2016 14:51:06 +0800
Subject: Pls read and reply asap

Hi,

I have been in search for someone bearing this name in your country and
when i saw your name i was very happy to contact you and see how best we
can assist each other. I am working with a savings security company here in
Alor Setar, Kedah of Malaysia as the manager of ware house department. I
believe it is destiny for me to come across your name, i have this business
i wish to share with you and i believe it will interest you, because it is
in connection with your name and you are going to benefit from it.

A citizen of your country deposited a consignment of Seven Million, United
States Dollars ($7,000,000.00), with the company i am working with in 2012
and the due date for the deposit contract was 3rd of May 2016. Sadly he was
among the dead victims in the earthquake and tsunami disaster in Japan. He
was in Japan on a business trip and that was how he met his end. Our
company head quarter boss is yet to know about his death, i knew about it
because he was my friend and i was the officer in charge of his consignment
at the time he deposited the consignment and he did not mention any next of
kin/heir when the deposit was made, was not married and no children. Last
week our company head quarter boss requested that i should give
instructions on what to do about his consignment, if to renew the contract
or not.

I knew this will happen and that is why i started looking for a means to
handle the situation, because if our company head quarter boss happens to
know that he is dead and do not have any heir, he will take the consignment
for himself, so i do not want this to happen. That was why when i saw your
name i was happy and i am now seeking your co-operation to present you as
beneficiary to the consignment, since you have the same last name with him
and with that our company head quarter will deliver the consignment to you.
It is better that we claim this consignment, than allowing the company boss
to take it, he is rich already. I am not a greedy person, so i am
suggesting we share the money equally, which is 50%/50% for both of us, my
share will assist me in starting my own company which i have been dreaming
about for a long time now. Willing to hear from you.

Best regards,
Ms. Mira

Anti-fraud resources: