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: "Miss Donna Story" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <storydonna2@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 2016 14:09:45 -0000
Subject: Dear Beneficiary,

Dear Beneficiary,
 
This is to officially inform you that we have written to you before without getting respond from you and we believe that our previous mail did not get to you therefore we write you again. We are contacting you concerning the release of your inheritance / Lottery fund / Draft /Cheque /ATM Card which have been delayed for transfer by some officials who claim to be in position of your fund thereby extorting money from you in one way or the other.
 
Your Fund has finally been approved for transfer by the United Nations  Fund Monitoring Unit. Your fund will be transfer to you via MasterCard ATM which is cashable in any ATM machine or Bank anywhere in the world.
We hereby inform you that the ATM card worth $10.5million has been credited in your favour as the  payment of your inheritance /Lottery fund which has been delayed by these officers who claim to be in position of your fund Therefore you are warned to stop any further communication with anybody concerning your inheritance fund.
 
and would be mailed to your home addres  via FedEx. Because we have signed a contract with FedEx which should expire by the end of january 2016 you will only need to pay $240 instead of $420 saving you $180 so if you Pay before the one week you save $180 and receive your ATM
you are advised to contact our correspondent in Asia the delivery officer Mr Lee wing  with the information below
Name: Mr Lee wing
 
E-mail:   leewongfede@gmail.com
 
Send them the following informations of yours for the conclusion of your ATM Card:
 
 
Full Name:__________
Delivery Address:____
Cell phone :_______
Occupation:_____
Phone Number:____
Age:______
Yours sincerely,
Miss Donna Story

Anti-fraud resources: