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: "MONEY GRAM" <info@moneygram.com>
Reply-To: ronald.edward@hotmail.co.za
Date: Sun, 5 Jun 2011 02:17:08 -0000
Subject: RE: HAPPY ANNOUNCEMENT!!!




MONEY GRAM CUSTOMER CARE
21st Floor
Melrose arch Plaza Permata
2001
Johannesburg
South Africa

The G-20 Group in relationship with HSBC London has concluded that
our working partner (Money Gram South Africa) has helped us to send your
first instalmental payment of US$5,000 as instructed by the Group of
Twenty (G-20) in conjunction with the South Africa government and will keep
sending you $5000 twice a week until the full payment of (US$820,000 )
is fully remitted to you.

Here is the informations of the $5000.00 your first payout

MONEY TRANSFER REFERENCE: 66-097-334
SENDER'S NAME: Kelly Pedersen
AMOUNT: US$5000

To track your funds, You are to forward your name to our Money Gram agent
(Mr Ronald Edward) via email: ronald.edward@hotmail.co.za

Your Name __________________________
Phone number _______________________

Contact Mr Ronald Edward for the funds Clearance Certificate necessary for
the release of your funds.

Best Regards,
Mrs Patricia Lee
Money Gram South Africa

Anti-fraud resources: