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: "Capt. Alexander Timoshenkov," (may be fake)
Reply-To: <g764651@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2017 10:02:23 -0700
Subject: Re: confidential msg for your urgent assistance

In the coalition to fight Terrorists, Talibans, al Qaeda, Isis, Isil who have beheaded/crucified many Christians including Innocent Peace Workers helping in the troubling World. In fact, just 4 days ago I personally encountered those evil men, killed 7 of them and recovered a huge box of money valued USD$3.7M. I have confidential made a solid arrangement with a licenced united nation diplomat to safely deliver the box to your house address. Please don't blame me for this decision because many of us have lost precious lives and I could not lose such opportunity any longer. Forward your response to my private e-mail: (capt.timoshenkov@bk.ru) if interested.
Capt. Alexander Timoshenkov,
Russian Marines, Alepo, Syria

Anti-fraud resources: