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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

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

Fraud email example:

From: "JOSE W" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jose4willis1@xbmail.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2014 17:45:08 +0300
Subject: Happy sunday, pls claim this $40,5Millions for me urgently

 
 
 
 
jose4willis1@xbmail.com
Dear Friend,
How are you doing today with your family I  hope and pray that this E-mail will meet you in good health and you will welcome it with open hearts as its for good.
 
I am contacting you with regard to $USD40,500,000 belonging to our bank deceased client, who may be related to you as you both bear the same last name I decided to contact you about this unclaimed deposits as i am his accounting officer and want you to stand as next of kin to this funds in the account as it will be very easy for you to claim this stated amount as you both bear the same last name and i am senior accountant officer at the bank and know what it entails for the funds to be release to you as the next of kin then we can share the funds as the our deceased client passed away with his entire family during his AUTO CRASH few years back and my bank has made so much efforts to locate his next of kin with results in-vain so this funds is about to be sent to the GOVT Treasury account as unclaimed funds so i personally think is better to arrange for someone capable of keeping the secret tot stand as next of kin and assist me to move this funds out this country so we will ! use it to help ourself and the les
 
 
Then i decide to go in search of some one willing to stand as next of kin to this deceased client account for me as the accountant officer to release the funds to the person then we share it to help ourself and the less privilege ones in the world instead of losing the funds to our govt whom is already rich and the good news here which i know that God want us to be partner is that you bear the same last name with the deceased customer and their is no trace to any of his relatives or family as he never supplied any name as the next of kin when he deposited the funds with our bank so my bank will have no issues in releasing the funds to you if you follow my instructions and we work together as partner.
 
For further correspondence,kindly re-confirm the requested details:Names
in full,marital status,direct telephone and fax numbers.
 
I shall await your response to give you a more detailed feedback.
Best Regards,
Jose Willis
Reply via::jose4willis1@xbmail.com

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