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"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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: w_tang2008@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:17:13 +0800
Subject: urgent.


Attn:

My name is Mr.Wing Tang, of Development Bank of Singapore (DBS). A foreigner
with thesame last name as yours, died here in Singapore, twelve years ago
leaving behind an estate/capital (US$25.8M) here in DBS.

The Investor died intestate, no body came forward all these years. I,
working with you can secure the funds in the account for us instead of
allowing the Government of Singapore secure it as unclaimed, 20% of the
total funds for your part in this transaction.

Reply with your FULL NAME, DATE OF BIRTH, TELEPHONE NUMBER, FAX NUMBER AND
CONTACT ADDRESS if you can cooperate.

Thanks,
Mr.Wing Tang.

Anti-fraud resources: