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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: "wamanif225" <wamanif225_ci@centrum.sk>
Date: Tue, 08 Jun 2010 13:41:10 +0200
Subject: From: Williams Amani/ Appeal for Assistance!

Dear Sir/ Madam,

Greetings in the name of God. I am Williams Amani from Sierra Leone. I am writing you from Rep of Cote d'Ivoire where i have been taking refuge after the brutal war and murder of my parents by the rebels during the renewed fighting in my country Sierra Leone. Because of the war my late father sold his shipping company and took me to a nearby country Cote d'Ivoire where he deposited US$18, 300,000.00 Million(Eighteen Million Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in his foreign account with one of the bank here in Cote d'Ivoire. Please, i have prayed before contacting you with the trust that you will be of help to me, with the current political situation in Cote d'Ivoire now. I am seeking for your assistance to transfer this money to your account for a good investment project in your country and also relocate to your country to further my study. I am willing to offer you 20% of the total sum for your assistance. Please for your good information this transaction is 100!
% risk free and in no way connected with any illegal transaction. Please help me to get out of this terrible situation as soon as you receive this mail. Please, kindly write me back immediately for more details, it's very important.

kind regards,

Williams Amani.

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