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: "Michael Elo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <foreignoperationdept111@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2011 19:39:30 +0100
Subject: Waiting to Hear From You!

ATTENTION:

Sir,

We the management of Standard Chartered bank Ghana Ltd wishes to congratulate and inform you that your inheritance/contract funds of $5.250m USD has been approved and released today by the president of the Republic of Ghana. To this effect, we came to a conclusion that we have to pay the sum of $5.250m USD to you as contract payment by ATM Visa Card. Should you adhere to our directives, your payment will be made within 24 hours.

However, you are required to reconfirm your information for verification and immediate payment.

1. Full names
2 Address
3 Direct telephone numbers.

We shall proceed with your payment as soon as the above information is received.

Yours faithfully,
Dr Michael Elo,
Director ATM Swift card/foreign operation dept
Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd.


(Copyright © 2011 Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Ltd.)

Anti-fraud resources: