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 Amett Alake" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <2336029564@qq.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2014 20:25:23 -0700
Subject: Urgent Response Needed

Dear Friend,
I contacted you last two weeks and I got no response. I mentioned about my late client that has the same surname with you. He deposited the sum of $37 million with the bank and they have asked me to provide a next of kin.
Kindly reconfirm your personal data below:
First Name......................
Surname Name:..............
Country Origin:...............
Regards,
Amett Alake

Anti-fraud resources: