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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Richardson Cooper" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richardsoncooper2@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2016 03.03.58 +0200
Subject: Your funds is $2.3,000.000.00

Dear Friend,

I am officially sending you this e-mail in order for you to be aware of the good news of your funds. Please before I proceed, I will like you to keep away this message from any other person around you, because we have decided to conclude this issue with you alone. JUNE 30th 2016 a meeting was held with the General Director of the Interpol and some other top officials in Lagos, Nigeria concerning the online internet scam from London, South Africa, Nigeria, Benin Republic, Ghana, USA and other parts of the world. In conclusion of the meeting, I was ordered by the Interpol to fly down to Africa for special investigation concerning this scam.

After some extensive investigation by the Cyber Crimes Commission, we noticed that you and some other individuals have been scammed off approximately $100,000.00 or more. Meanwhile those people that you have been dealing with are not real, they are only using you to make money for their own benefit.

You need to understand that my coming down to Africa is for your own interest and I have to accomplish my aim before returning back to the United States. Please be informed that you have been awarded the sum of $2.3,000.000.00 as a compensation from the United Nations, Cyber Crime and Counter Terrorism Division. All the legal documentation for your funds are with me here. All I need from you now is your honest corporation, you have to seize communication with any other person to avoid been mislead.

Don't allow anyone to deceive you, your funds is $2.3,000.000.00 (Two Million Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars Only) it was written inside the recording files of your funds. I have taken your funds documents to the Bank for confirmation and they have been working on the release of your funds. Meanwhile, I will need your information like the stated below so that I can know how to update you soon as everything has been settled.

Full Name:
Address:
Tel:

Upon the receipt of this information, I will email you or call you and give you code on how to communicate with me and I will always keep you updated concerning the progress of the delivery of your funds. Once again you are advised to seize all communication with any other office or person to avoid been mislead, and whenever you receive any message from anyone, kindly forward it to me so that i can make a proper investigation on it.

Yours Faithfully,

Barrister Richardson Cooper
Email: richardsoncooper2@aol.com
Telephone: +1 (706) 363-0374

Anti-fraud resources: