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: "Ms.Elizabeth Charles" <kendon73@gmail.com>
Reply-To: tny.kow@list.ru
Date: Mon, 19 Dec 2016 20:32:22 +0100
Subject: I need your help with this

Dear Recipient ,

My name is Ms.Elizabeth Charles ,my late husband Dr.Frank Charles deposited
a large sum of money with a bank before his death . I now want it to be
used for charity purposes and also to start a foundation to help the less
privilege and also donate to orphanages,research centers.

I have no child of my own to inherit the funds and the sad news is that I
know I would not last for long in this world due to terminal cancer hence
having known my condition, I decided to donate this funds for humanity .

As soon as I receive your reply, I will give you the details of how you
will claim this funds from where it is currently deposited so that you can
immediately transfer the funds to your personal account via bank wire
transfer.

Please assure me that you will act accordingly as stated herein .

I hope to hear from you soonest

Remain Blessed,

Ms.Elizabeth Charles

Anti-fraud resources: