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: "Mr. Jacob J. Lew" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jacob.lew@seznam.cz>
Date: Thu, 15 Sep 2022 19:04:11 -0700
Subject: Transfer Funds of $100Million

Dear, I am Jacob J. Lew, Former Head of Operations at the Finance and Account
Department of Qatar Petroleum. I have thoracic cancer and I have been Hospitalized for 2 years now at stage 4, I have an Investment opportunity worth of $100Million USD in my bank account and I need your assistance and co-operation to move it into your account as a Contract investment payment to invest the money for me in your country, because my health is not guaranteed due to the cancer illness.
Tell me if you can handle this, if you can't, don't let this be known by any other person. It's between me and you.
Kind regards,
Mr. Jacob J. Lew
Former Finance and Account
Department Qatar Petroleum

Anti-fraud resources: