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: INTERPOL INFO <wdcjoshuaskule1@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 13 Feb 2017 11:35:56 +0100
Subject: MAIL FROM INTERPOL & SCAM VICTIMS/FBI

Dearest

Firstly we introduce this commission (INTERPOL) International Police. We
fight cyber crime, internet fraud, scam and money laundering in Africa,
London, United State and Asian region. Our commission has been in
existences since 2002 and our duty is to stop internet fraud. We have over
11,500 fraudsters in our Central prisons around UK, Asia and we are still
on the lookout more. We are aware that a lot of foreigners have been
deceived and huge amounts of money have been lost to them.

The Leaders of the UN Crime Fighters, have come together to inform the
world what is going on and we have recovered over $ 422 Million Dollars
(Four Hundred and Twenty two Million Dollars) from the people we have
apprehended. Your reference (Email id) was given to us by one of the
fraudsters in our detention room after serious investigation and our aim is
to refund all lost funds to its legitimate owners. The UN has approved a
total of Five Hundred Thousand US Dollars only (US $ 500,000.00), as
compensation to the loss that you incurred as this was a ceiling rate. Some
suffered more while others suffered less and the idea is to restore back to
the position that you would have been if not defrauded. In addition to the
compensation amount approved in your favor is One Million US Dollars only
(US $1,000.00), making it a total of One Million, Five Hundred Thousand US
Dollars. This will be paid to you in the next few days. We still seek for
others who feel they are wise and hope that you will be of assistance by
giving us more information as per clue in apprehending them. The UN has
issued instructions that foreign payment should be via ATM MasterCard only
and no representative(s) will be accepted in order to avoid diversion of
beneficiary's funds into their private account.

We do hereby ask you to contact this office immediately with your personal
data such as, Full name and address, country of origin Company's name and
position (if any), Present occupation, Mobile/phone number for easer
communication for ratification and to redeem your compensation.

Regards


PAUL GARDNER
INTERPOL & SCAM VICTIMS/FBI
NB: (confidential) if this email is received accidentally and you are not a
scam victim, please Ignore and do not respond

Anti-fraud resources: