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: "Col.Jones" <verisign@bettherdaysonline.com>
Reply-To: <colpetejones@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 15 May 2011 00:47:10 +0100
Subject: Hello i need your urgent response

Greetings

My name is Col.Jones, a Col in the US Army,a West Point Graduate
presently serving in the Military of the 82nd
Air Borne Division Peace keeping force in Baghdad, Iraq, and I am in serious
need of your help in assisting me
with the safe keeping of two military trunk boxes which has just arrived the
USA, and it has your name and address as
the legal beneficiary to the boxes. You can view the link below for more info,
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
Please can you be trusted on this?

If you can, do let me know,and get back to me as quick as you can. I am also
sorry if I have crossed the line by sending the
boxes to you without your knowledge, but I can explain better. First, I need to
know if you can be fully trusted?
Let me here from you today, and I would highlight you more on everything

Col.Jones
U.S Army

Anti-fraud resources: