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: grace michel <gracemichel2016@gmail.com>
Reply-To: gracemichel22@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 Oct 2016 16:17:34 +0000
Subject: Dear can i trust you in transfering my money into your account?

Dear Friend

It is my pleasure to seek your opinion,and also to confide in you for
a business partnership. I am Miss Grace Michel the only child of late
Michel Akah. I prayed before contacting you, please do not see my mail
as embarrassment to you,as we do not know each other for the very
first time, but I believe one has to risk confiding in someone he or
she does not know for the very first time to succeed sometimes in
life.

What i am saying is i want to transfer (5.5million Euro) into your
account. Will it be possible for you to receive it without telling me
any story when the money enters into your account? This transfer is a
risk free transaction. I have decided to invest this money in your
country, because of the frequent political instability and also for
security reasons and the worst part of it, is that my uncles are
trying to kill me over this money because I refused to hand over the
documents covering this money to them. They has sold all my father's
landed properties which rightful belong to me and has been on my
nerves to give them details on the deposited money, which I refused.
My uncle made me to understand that in their custorm, it is his right
to inherit my fathers properties

To make arrangements for me to come to your country after the
successful transfer of this money into your account, so that i will
further my education in your country. To help invest this money in a
profitable business that will be of a good help for both of us and
your family. since I am not in business for the very first time. I
want you to promise me that you are not going to betray me after the
money gets into your account since that is what I have left.

I will be pleased to offer you 15% percentage of the total fund while
the balance will be invested with your help. NOTE: I have all the
necessary documents backing me up as the next of kin, If you are
willing to assist me , please do not hesitate to contact me for
further details and also hope you will handle this transaction with
almost confidentiality and transparency it deserves.

Yours sincerely,

Miss Grace Michel.

Anti-fraud resources: