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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Bruno Tagro" <aaaa@0oo.kr>
Reply-To: mrbrunotagro@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 29 Dec 2017 08:53:02 -0300
Subject: RE: SCAM ON YOU IN AFRICA,ACTORS ARRESTED

This is Bruno Tagro .I am the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) Regional director of scam investigations and recovery Unit.This unit covers Ghana,Cote D'ivoire,Nigeria,Togo ,Gambia,Cameroon and Benin Republic,with headquarters in Ghana here.
It has become a big embarrassment for west African countries to note the high level of scam complaints by innocent foreigners.
ECOWAS therefore created this unit to tackle this problem.We have our field and intelligence officers distributed in various countries of West Africa to help in tracking down the scammers and making them effect refund of money defrauded from people through this Unit.
A group arrested confessed to have defrauded you of some money through their scam network which is linked between africa here and overseas.They are right now in our custody here in Ghana where the king pin has relocated to with some of the gang members.You are requested to send me a confirmation email as soon as possible.
These scammers are heartless and they are seriously rich from what they defrauded from their victims.They do not deserve any mercy.Our mission is to make them refund all they defrauded from victims and have them face jail terms in prison,according to the laws establishing this body.
Note that we do not entertain false claims.With their confessions on what they defrauded from you,we have facts and figures and if your claims do not go in line with their confessions then we will not go ahead with processing your claims ,and that will mean an end to further communication with you.
Therefore,you have to furnish me with names they used in defrauding you and the total amount of money defrauded from you.By the powers of the laws establishing us,we have confiscated bank accounts owned by them in which they have large sums of money,including landed properties .It is from their accounts that refunds will be made to you,after processing your claims ..
This refund process is on the basis of '' first come,first served'' because we have other people on our list that they defrauded.If the money in their accounts are exhausted,we proceed with sale of their landed properties to effect the said refunds.
Once again, be very precise in presenting your claim because we will not entertain any false claims. We have real data of their confessions concerning you,
Best Regards
Bruno Tagro
Regional Director
Ecowas Scam Investigations and recovery Unit
Accra,Ghana
West Africa

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