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: "Mr. Malusi Gigaba" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gigabam@minister.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Oct 2017 13:46:30 +0200
Subject: FROM THE OFFICE OF SOUTH AFRICAN MINISTER OF FINANCE.

Attention,
 
As the new minister of finance of South Africa, while going through the files on my table on assuming office, I came across a payment file on my desk containing information about a fund in your favor which my predecessor, Pravin Gordhan did not pay out to you.
 
The information in the payment file indicates that the fund which belongs to you was sent from Reserve bank after a prolonged attempt by the bank to reach you and effect payment to you was unsuccessful.
 
The fund is R126,000,000.00. Do you know about the fund?
 
You are therefore, required to confirm the following for immediate processing of the release/transfer of your fund to you.
 
1, NAME AND CURRENT ADDRESS.
2, AGE AND OCCUPATION.
3, TELEPHONE NUMBER.
4, PRIVATE EMAIL ADDRESS(IF ANY).
 
Yours Faithfully.
 
Malusi Gigaba
Minister of Finance,
Republic of South Africa.
Fax: 086 265 0311.

Anti-fraud resources: