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: "Paul Leech" <paulleech5@islammemo.cc>
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 11:54:52 +0300
Subject: ATTN:



ATTN:
I am Mr.paul leech a Director of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd,taiwan.An
Iraqi named Farouk Bassem,a business man made a numbered fixed deposit
for $8m only in my branch.
He was killed in the iraq war with his
entire family.I am ready to place you as beneficiary/next of kin of the
 
funds for us to share 50/50 should you be interested in executing this
with me;mail me at my personal email address below:
paul_leech16@yahoo.com.tw
Sincerely,
Mr.paul leech

Anti-fraud resources: