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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: "Mrs.Stella Ellis" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ellisstella9@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2017 06:19:11 +0100
Subject: Dear Friend

Dear Friend,
 
I came across your identity and contact in my desperate
quest to successfully locate the next of kin to an account
file forwarded to my desk for liquidation. I am Mrs Stella
Ellis, I work with the legal department of a local financial
institution. My job here is to see that any unclaimed
account is certified and confirmed UNCLAIMED before final
liquidation instruction is passed on any such account file.
 
With the above explanation of my responsibility in carrying
out my duty, it became very important that I make contact
with you because an account currently valued at USD 15.3
Million (Fifteen million, three hundred Thousand US Dollars)
was forwarded to my office for final search of next of kin
to the deceased account holder file, the account in question
was last operated in April 2005 and by law is due for
liquidation.
 
I have tried to locate the next of kin to this account all
to no avail. In my quest to locate such person, I came
across your identity.Coincidentally you bear similarity with
the identity of account holder and this is the major reason
why i have contacted you. I have been mandated to certify
the next of kin to this account before the liquidation
within thirty official working days,  Therefore I seize
this opportunity to make a confidential proposal to you as
follows: -
 
We both work together on this file; I will use my official
capacity to front you as the next of kin to this account
file. files relating to this account will be amended to suit
this claim as soon as you have agreed work with me. Please
kindly respond to this letter via my private Email address
for further clarification : I also want to guarantee that
this will be executed under a legitimate framework that will
protect you from any breach of the Law here and in your
country.
 
I will await your positive response to this mail as soon as
possible.
 
Sincerely,
Mrs.Stella Ellis

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