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: "Sam Urgent" <sam_urgent@msn.com>
Reply-To: grants378@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:52:04 +0000
Subject: Urgent Attention.

Dear Sir,

I am Samuel Grants from Sierra Leone and I just arrive Ghana.I have three
consignments here with me which I have deposited at the airport awaiting
delivery to you; 1 containing 30M USD, the other containing 125kg Diamond
and the last one containing 500kg gold.
Sir all I need from you is to help me stand as the beneficiary to recieving
the consignment there in your country and help me invest the funds.I will
want you to state your percentage so you help me recieve them as you know I
am a stranger here and I have made contact with the person who will do the
delivery at the airport here so he asked me to have the full name,address
and phone number of the person who they are to make delivery to.
Sir you just stand as the beneficiary to receive the consignments and let me
know your percentage so we can invest together.
I wait to hear from you.

Regards,
Samuel Grants


--

Anti-fraud resources: