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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: "Richard Moore" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richardmoore.diplomatic@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2014 14:41:14 -0300
Subject: Dear Friend.

Dear Friend.

I am a stock broker here in Nigeria .I am inviting you for a stock transfer deal, since you are a foreigner and you bear the same last name with our late customer Mr. Kerr Frank who had an account with our stockbroking firm, so that you can assist in repatriating the money and property left behind by Mr Kerr who died in the UN building bomb blast with his entire family before they get confiscated or declared unserviceable by the bank we hold the initial right but controlled from Switzerland so do not worry as you are going to be paid from switzerland.

Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2years now and there is no track on his investment and there has been dramatic rise in bullish trend on his portfolio but no one has since giving any mandate for any deal, I seek your consent to present you as the next of kin of the deceased so that the proceeds of this account valued at Eight Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (US$8,500,000.00) can be paid to you.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.You will be entitled to 40% of the total sum, i will come over to receive my share once the transfer is concluded, i will also appreciate investment advise since I will want to invest some part of this fund under your custody and guidance.

Do send to me your name, address, telephone, age, occupation so that i will have all the information filed and then prepare a mandate with your name so that we can dispose the shares and the bank can pay the entire sum and we can both split 60 for me and you get 40 %.

Do acknowledge the receipt of my email.Please keep this confidential.

Yours truly

Richard Moore

Anti-fraud resources: