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: Hamza Kotey <manwar800@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 08:58:43 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: i wish you well in everything you do


hi ,
Am very proud to write to you .how are you?i hope and believe by the grace of the omnipotent God you are fine and kicking.am hamza kotey dsane and a man of 21.i am a graduate from university of development studies.i am from Ghana ,black in complexion and my hair is also very black .just to say a little about my self .the main purpose of writing to you is tell you that i want to you to be my friend or penpal and i hope that is accepted .i would like to know more about you.i want to end here with much respect.hope to hear from you very soon
yours faithful
hamza kotey dsane

---------------------------------
Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Anti-fraud resources: