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: "Michael Gicks" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <drgicks@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2019 21:24:33 -0700
Subject: Business Opportunity ...

Dear

My name is Michael Gicks, an investment banker here in London United Kingdom, I occupy the position dormant fund investigator of an in the head office. It is with good spirit of heart I am opening up this great business opportunity to you.

A deceased client of mine that bears the same last name with you, died in Earthquake and Tsunami disaster on the 11th March 2011 in Fukushima prefectures Japan, which means he died intestate in 2011 sadly and has left no next of kin and that is the reason I am writing to you as namesakes.

My late Client has a deposit of (US$18.5M) Eighteen Million and Five Hundred Thousand Dollar) and that is why I am contacting you to present you as my late client next of kin, so the money can be transferred to your account, and we will share it together.

Please contact me for more information through my email address (drgicks@gmail.com) below so that I will give the breakdown and details of how to make the claim within few working days because the fund sign off and claim application is on my desk even as I send this email to you.

Best regards,

Michael Gicks

Anti-fraud resources: