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: "Mariam Abachi" <mirambach@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: mirambach@yahoo.it
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 15:10:07 -0500
Subject: CONFIDENTCIAL

Dear

I am mrs mariam abacha, wife of nigeria formal militory head of
state general sanni abacha. Who died in august.1998. since after his death
it has not been easy with me and my children over presure from the present
government some of the mony he left for the upkeeping of our children.i and
my son Ahmed is ready to invite you to come to cotonou republic. Of benin
west africa toremove on our behalf [$25,000,000] which was deposited there
in a security by my late husband, all the relevant document for the claiming
of the luggage from the security house in benin are intact with me, and my
son will be there to meet with you for the collection as soon as we hear
from you. in case of eventuality please do used the alternative email
address to commucate me (mirambach@yahoo.it)

Sincerely yours

[ mrs mariam ]



Anti-fraud resources: