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: "From Mr. Fred R Lee" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dplomen@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2018 13:09:40 +0200
Subject: YOU HAVE TO STOP CONTACTING THOSE FAKE LIARS FOR YOUR FUNDS

From Mr. Fred R Lee
USA Secretary of State
Refund Payment Committee
Federal Executive Council Washington DC USA.
 
 
 
Good Day,
 
 
This letter is written in order to change your Life from today. Please note that this letter came to you as a result of information received from our monitoring network regarding so much payments which you sent through Western Union and Money Gram to Europe, USA, Asia and Africa and some other part of the World without receiving any payment to your name, further investigation reveals that you have lost hope towards receiving your payment after being deceived so many times.
 
 
Following the on going re-branding of USA policies, the Federal Government of USA have directed our committee to compensate/refund the sum of $6,500,000  to you through payment by  ATM CARD being one of the most convenient means of receiving payment World Wide, Bank to Bank Transfer. We wish to inform you that the members of Refund Payment Committee are honorable men of Great Repute and integrity who have served the Government of USA  in different capacities,
 
 
we also wish to inform you that the Committee members were appointed by our respected President Donald Trump to pay 250 million Dollars to the listed beneficiaries that have lost their money to the scammer and have not yet receive their total sum.
 
 
In order for you to receive your payment this week, you are advice to reply this email to with ANSWERS to the Questions below.
 
 
Your Full Name
Your Direct telephone. Fax Number ( if any)
How Many Months Or Years in which You Have Been Expecting your Payment
The Place you sent Money Last whether Nigeria or London etc
The Last Amount of Money You sent indicating What Month and Year
 
 
 
From Mr. Fred R Lee
USA Secretary of State
Refund Payment Committee
Federal Executive Council Washington DC USA.

Anti-fraud resources: