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. Alexander Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr_kimwong@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Sat, 6 May 2023 11:43:08 +0100
Subject: Thanks for reading through

You may be surprised to receive this mail from me, but it is a matter that I am convinced we can solve if we work together in harmony. However, I seek for your absolute confidence as I introduce myself to you. I sourced your profile from a human resource database in the Internet. I am Mr. Alex Smith an Auditor of a Bank.

In the discharge of my duty as the Auditor, I stumbled on this domiciliary account belonging to a foreign businessman that has remained dormant for four years now with Forty million US dollars (US$40) in it. Staff for enquiries about the said fund, and it was discovered that the account holder died in an accident. I am writing to you so that we can work together to remit the money to you as the next of kin because this money belongs to a foreigner and has to be claimed by a foreigner.

I guarantee this transaction under a legitimate arrangement that will not bridge the law by both parties. I have options to offer you, first you can choose to have a certain percentage of the money for your assistance, or you can go into partnership for a proper profitable Investment of the money. Whatever option you choose, feel free to notify me.

It is a simple process which will take a short while to process. To indicate your interest to work with us, please forward your reply, your confidential telephone and home or office addresses to enable me communicate with you easily. I will give you more details regarding on what to do and how to do it for us to achieve good success about the transaction as soon as I hear from you.

Note, on the event that you cannot assist me to do the business, I beg you to still keep my contact and existence of this fund a secret.

Best Regards,

Mr. Alex Smith

Anti-fraud resources: