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: "Sgt. Mark Edwards" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgtmarked2017@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2017 22:55:02 -0800
Subject: United States Soldier:Afghanistan

Important offer
Good day,
 
Sgt Mark Edwards here,an American soldier serving in the 1st Armored Division in Iraq,you understand our situation here being attacked by insurgents.On the process, we secretly moved some amount of money that was hidden in one of the Saddam Hussein's caves,which at the moment not traceable.
 
Your kind assistance in receiving the Project funds will be appreciated,for the purpose of investment.70% of the total will be set aside for a good business Investment while an offer of 30% is made available to you,hope you'll appreciate that.I'm not asking much but rather a hand of assistance in moving the funds out of the London security vaults where it's been deposited under a temporal immunity coverage.
 
Iraq is a war zone and my life here cannot be predicted as anything can happen at any time,so would not like to miss the chance of completing the final process of the funds,which is a confirmation of it at your receiving address.
 
A diplomatic courier will be an ideal plan for the shipping of the package which is a silver box containing the treasures.Note that the process would encounter no hitch as it is a risk free transaction and has a diplomatic coverage so cannot be checked at any port of Entry/Exit.If this offer is ok by you,then further details will be sent to you,let me say that "TRUST" should be our major objective in this venture,as you'll be in control of it all,until my mission is completed.Can you be trusted?
 
Please reply to: sgtmarked2017@gmail.com
 
kindly send me an e-mail signifying your interest.
Nice to meet you
From Iraq
Sgt. Mark Edwards
 

Anti-fraud resources: