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: "CLARK SEEMS" <CLARKSEEMS@hamdard.net.pk>
Reply-To: clarkseems_47@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:37:52 +0500
Subject: DEAR FRIEND!!!


Attn:

I am Clark Seems; an underwriter with a financial institution situated
in London .

I came across your contact through the web directory while I was
seeking for a foreign associate to act as my front.


I have contacted you in the hope of presenting you as my associate to
assume the new recipient of a Fixed-Income deposit valued at $8million
deposited with Barclays Bank which upon approval will be paid to you
through Washington Mutual Bank in California as Barclays bank


Anti-fraud resources: