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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: "Mrs Marie Dossou" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <marv963@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:23:52 -0400
Subject: Re: Business transaction

Attention: Hello my friend,
 
Complimennts of the day to you.
 
My name is Mrs Marie Antoinette Dossou; I am the Regional manager of BANK OF AFRICA, PORTO NOVO, Avenue Mallan (branch) in the Republic of Benin. I am married with two kids. I am a Woman of peace and I don't want problems, I only hope you can assist me. I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and I.
 
As the Regional Branch manager of BANK OF AFRICA, it is my duty to send in a financial report to my Head Office (Boulevard branch) Cotonou at the end of each Business Year.
 
On the course of the last year 2012 Business Report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made One Million Five Hundred And Twenty Thousand United states (USD 1,520,000.00) which my head office are not aware of and will never be aware of it. I have placed this fund on what we call escrow dormicilary account with no beneficiary.
 
As a staff of this Bank I cannot be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money in your Bank account and get 30% of the total fund as commission though is negotiable.
 
There are practically no risk involved, it will be a Bank to Bank Transfer, all I need from you is to stand claim as the Original depositor of this funds who made the deposit with my branch so that my head office can order the transfer to your designated Bank account. If you accept to work with me I will appreciate it very much.
 
My private phone number and my email is the above. Call or reply me urgently if you think we can work together so that we can go over the details, Thank you in advance and may God bless you.
 
Yours Truly,
 
Mrs Marie Dossou
Tel: (229) 77 68 85 00

Anti-fraud resources: