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: "MARTINS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <derrickmartins116@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:12:53 -0700
Subject: RE: CAN I TRUST YOU WITH THIS BUSINESS OPPOORTUNITY?/URGENT!

MY DEAR,
I am having this strong feeling today after my prayers that you are honest person that I can work with, though; I have not met you in person but I believe that we will soon meet after the completion of the transaction that I intend to introduce to you now.
I am a senior Accounting Officer with a Bank and I will give you the name of the Bank as soon as we establish the relationship to deal with the matter. I have a perfect opportunity to the tune of $10.5 Million (Ten Million, five hundred thousand US Dollars only) to be transferred to your personal or Company's account, though; I will provide you with the full details of this transaction once we know each other better with trust.
I will also let you know the sharing ratio on receipt of your response to this message, so this is honest request for you to make this transaction a top secret because we cannot trust anyone, in view of this, I hereby request that you should forward the under listed information to me as soon as this mail get to you, thus:-
1. Your full name
2. Your full address
3. Direct telephone number (where you can always be reached.
4. Date of birth
5. Occupation.
All the above needed information will assist me to prepare all the necessary legal documents in your favor to claim the fund, so do send them to me.
I will be looking forward to your urgent attention to this matter.
Thanks and best regards
Yours in Banking Services,
MR DERRICK MARTINS
(Account Officer)

Anti-fraud resources: