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: "Pravin Gordhan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gpravin@minister.com>
Date: Fri, 29 Jul 2016 23:13:20 +0700
Subject: FOR YOUR URGENT ATTENTION-FROM THE OFFICE OF HONORABLE MINISTER OF FINANCE.

Attention,
 
I write in respect of the fund brought to the department of National Treasury from Reserve bank in your name.
 
>From the detailed report contained in the file that accompanied the fund, the fund was supposed to be transferred to you from Reserve bank, but was not due to some reasons that were not specified in the file.
 
The fund is 9.5m USD. Are you aware of the fund?
 
This notification stands as the final notice for your fund to be released to you and after 5 working days of this notification, if I do not hear from you, we shall have no option than to declare the fund government's fund.
 
 
You are required to re-confirm the following details, so that we can commence your fund release process;
 
 
1, Your full name and address.
2, Your age and occupation.
3, Your cell phone number.
 
Yours Sincerely.
 
Pravin Gordhan
Honorable Minister of Finance,
Republic of South Africa.

Anti-fraud resources: