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: THOMAS MAWUTOR <mariamrobertcliff@gmail.com>
Reply-To: marketpointdistribution@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2016 13:47:46 +0100
Subject: Respond urgently

Dear friend,

It is my pleasure to contact you through this medium ,with hope to get to
know you better after this initial email contact.
I am contacting you based on the recommendation of the private search
agency that gave me your contact email address.
I will need your assistance for an urgent confidential transaction that
involves fund transfering to an overseas bank account.

The goal of the transaction is to create a portfolio of investments in any
sector of profitable business in your country e.g Real
Estate,Hotel,Mining,Agriculture etc.

I am confident that you will give your consideration to this proposal and
respond positively within a short period of time.

I will give you more details, upon receiving your reply.


Sincerely,
Thomas Mawutor
Lome-Togo

Anti-fraud resources: