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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs Larisa Nitskaya" <mrs_larisa18@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 14:00:07 +0000
Subject: ASSISTANCE NEEDED.

DEAR FRIEND.
MY NAME IS MRS.LARISA NITSKAYA, PERSONAL SECRETARY TO MR.BORIS MIKHAIL
KHODORKOVSKY,THE ARRESTED CHAIRMAN/CEO OF YUKOS OIL AND BANK MENATEP SPB IN
RUSSIA WHO IS PRESENTLY IN JAIL. I HAVE THE DOCUMENTS OF A LARGE AMOUNT OF
FUNDS WHICH HE HANDED OVER TO ME BEFORE HE WAS DETAINED AND TRIED IN RUSSIA
FOR FINANCING POLITICAL PARTIES (THE UNION OF RIGHT FORCES, LED BY BORIS
NEMTSOV AND YABLOKO, A LIBERAL/SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY LED BY GREGOR
YAVLINSKY) OPPOSED TO THE GOVERNMENT OF MR.VLADMIR PUTIN,THE PRESIDENT
THEREBY LEADING TO THE FREEZING OF HIS FINANCES AND ASSETS.
AFTER SEARCHING THROUGH THE BOOKS OF YOUR COUNTRY'S CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND
INDUSTRIES HERE IN RUSSIA I AM CONTACTING YOU TO ASSIST ME TO RE-PROFILE THE
FUNDS AND EQUALLY INVEST SAME ON HIS BEHALF. THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF FUNDS TO BE
RE-PROFILLED IS FORTY SIX MILLION
DOLLARS(USD$46,000,000.00) AND YOU WILL BE PAID 20% FOR YOUR MANAGEMENT
SERVICES.
AS SOON AS I RECEIVE YOUR ACCEPTANCE IN MY PRIVATE EMAIL
thus:mrs_larisa7@yahoo.com I WILL SEND YOU THE NECESSARY DETAILS AND
MY IDENTIFICATION.
YOURS SINCERELY,
MRS.LARISA NITSKAYA.
NB: YOU CAN READ MORE OF HIS ORDEAL FROM:
<http://newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/03/29/58914.html>
<http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/politics/28.html?id_issue261041>
<http://www.supportmbk.com>
<http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Mikhail-Khodorkovsky>


Anti-fraud resources: