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: blessing mike <blessingmike4@hotmail.fr>
Date: Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:32:10 +0100
Subject: Reply back urgently.



From The Desk Of Mrs.B.C.Michael,Head Accounting Department,Ecowas Bank, 14/25 Hospital RouteBenin Republic Cotonou.
Dear Friend.
Please do accept my apologies if my mail does not meet your personal ethics, I want to introduce myself and this business opportunity to you. My name is Rev. Daniel Mike, a bank accountant. I wish to know if we can work together. I would like you to stand as the next of kin to my deceased client who made some deposits to my bank, Ecowas Bank. He died without any registered next of kin and as such the funds now have an open beneficiary mandate.
Fortunately, the bank believes on me, so it will be very easy to make you become his official next of kin. If you are interested you do let me know so that I can give you a Comprehensive details on what we are to do. I urgently hope to get your response as soon as possible. Please reply back at:mrsblessing_mike4@yahoo.co.uk
Please visit this site for confirmation: http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/12/26/benin.crash/index.html
Best regards, Mrs.Blessing.C.Michael


_________________________________________________________________
Connect to the next generation of MSN Messenger 
http://imagine-msn.com/messenger/launch80/default.aspx?locale=en-us&source=wlmailtagline

Anti-fraud resources: