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: "Mrs. Lois Richard" <lois64richard@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Sep 2019 11:00:38 +0100
Subject: Hi

Hello Dear,

I am Mrs. Lois Richard, executive office holder, general operation and
regional accountant of Standard Bank of United Kingdom, i believe it's
God's will for me to come across you today, also I hope that you will not
expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to impose on you.
I have been in search of someone with the same last name of yours, so when
I saw your name, I was pushed to contact you for our mutual benefit.


Thanks in anticipation of your urgent response.

Best Regards
Mrs. Lois Richard

Anti-fraud resources: