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: mike kone <mike_kone1970@yahoo.ca>
Date: Wed, 12 Sep 2007 15:00:22 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: PLEASE HELP OUT


Dearest,
I am Mr Mike Kone, 20 years old from ivory coast.
Only child/Son of Mrs Helen Kone.

I have 2.5 million USD which was made by my mother before
she died in oct 2004 which is left in a suspence security company in
here in my country Bassam Cote D' Ivoire West Africa. I seek your permision to remmit this Tranfer into your account so that i could come to your
country for investment and to further my studies.

I have accepted to offer you 20% of the total sum for your
desire to assist me.Please do respond immediately you recieve
this mail for more informations regarding the transfer.
Please contact me with the details below for further advice.

1. Full Names:
2. Date of Birth:
3. Name of Company:
4. Phone and Fax number,
5. Contact addresses:

My Best Regards.
Mr Mike Kone



---------------------------------
Be smarter than spam. See how smart SpamGuard is at giving junk email the boot with the All-new Yahoo! Mail

Anti-fraud resources: