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: "Mail Administrator" (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 16:11:42 -0500
Subject: News About Your E-mail

New Page 3
Hello Account Holder,

Just a short note to inform you that our records indicate that your account is "Pending De-activation" we have previously contacted you requesting account update, however as no update, your e-mail account will now be temporarily suspended if you ignore to update your account within the next 24 hours, to avoid the termination of your e-mail service, kindly click on your Ticket ID below, sign on with your VALID e-mail and password in order to avoid service disruption


                                             

                                        CLICK TO VERIFY

 

 

Notice Month: March 2014
Received from: Accounts and Administrator
Status: Pending De-activation
Ticket ID: FIQ-868119

Please note that the ticket will automatically be closed within 48 hours if no response is received from you and your account permanently de-activated.

Kind regards,

Chelsea Gray
Customer Experience Officer

Anti-fraud resources: