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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: "Mrs.Melissa Joan" <melissajoan884@gmail.com>
Reply-To: melissajoan111@Safe-mail.net
Date: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 05:59:26 -0000
Subject: Get back immediately for your payment




Hello dear,

I am Mrs Melissa K Joan of the newly inaugurated
World Debt Recovery committee (WDRC). My
committee has a mandate to recover unpaid debts
associated with NNPC contracts, Lottery fund,
inheritance fund, loans and grants ETC ranging
from $1M-$19.5M owed to various beneficiaries
and companies across the Globe (Asia, Europe,
USA, Africa, and Australia) and submit the list
of the unpaid beneficiaries/companies to the 2
appointed official paying Banks for immediate
payment of the fund.

In the course of our investigation, your email
address/particulars were shortlisted among the
first fifteen individuals yet to be paid hence
this email.
However, we received a petition today from one
Mrs. Christina Morgan that you are dead.

According to her, you died in a plane crash as
such your fund should be paid to her as the
apparent heir. She has also submitted her Bank
account with Bank of America for the transfer of
the fund to her.

To avoid undue delay or paying the fund to wrong
individual/beneficiary, I have decided to
contact you for confirmation. If I fail to hear
from you after 72 hours, it will be assumed that
the petition of Mrs. Morgan is true and the fund
will be paid to her without further delay.

Therefore, if you are still alive, reconfirm
your particulars below,

FULL
NAME:.......................................................
ADDRESS:.......................................................
PHONE
NUMBER:.....................................................
COUNTRY:...........................................................
OCCUPATION:......................................................
SEX:..............................................................




Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Melissa K Joan.


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