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: "Cindy Pinda" <dark_city_tw@yahoo.com>
Date:
Subject: I am Cindy

Hi,

I am Cindy and my surname is Pinda.I am 18 years old. My father was a
very wealthy oil merchant and businessman in Turkey. My father
was poisoned to death by his brothers because they want to take over
his properties and wealth.My Mother died after giving birth to me.I am
currently in my secondary school where i stay in their boarding house
for students.

My father left family valuables worth the sum of Two Million United
States Dollars in a security company for me which i want you to stand
as my trustee to claim this from the security company. They contacted
me and informed me that the deposit is due for claim and demand that i
should come forward to claim or send a trustee. I cannot handle this
so i am contacting you to help me as i am too young and cannot follow
the process. I will authorize you to them and they will release the
fund to you.i wait to read from you.Write back to me in my email

Littlecindy18@yahoo.com

Thanks and God bless.

Cindy Pinda


Anti-fraud resources: