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: donald robot <donald_robot400b@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 08:23:40 -0800
Subject: URGENT INFORMATION...........



Good day, Please accept my sincere apologizes if my email doesnot meet your business or personal ethics. I willfirst introduce myself as Dr donald robert, a staff inthe Accounts Management Section of a well-known bank,here in London , England . One of our accounts, with holding balance of$126,000,000 (One Twenty Six Million Dollars) has beendormant and last operated four years ago. From myinvestigations and confirmation, the owner of the saidaccount, a foreigner by name Paul Wood died on the 4thof January 2002 in a plane crash that occurred inBirmingham here in UK . Since then, nobody has done anything as regards theclaiming of this money, as he has no family memberthat has any knowledge as to the existence of eitherthe account or the funds and also Information from theNational Immigration also states that he was single onentry into the UK . I have confidently discussed this issue with some ofthe bank officials and we have agreed to find areliable foreign partner to deal with. We thereforepropose to do business with you, standing in as thenext of kin of these funds from the deceased and fundsreleased to you after due processes have beenfollowed. This transaction is totally free of risk and troublesas the fund is legitimate and does not originate fromdrug, money laundry, terrorism or any other illegalact. On your interest, let me hear from you. Regards, Dr donald robert.

_________________________________________________________________
Missed the show?  Watch videos of the Live Earth Concert on MSN.
http://liveearth.msn.com

Anti-fraud resources: