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: "Francois Adlas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <francois.adlas@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:22:12 -0700
Subject: -/**MSG**24/-

Greetings!
My name is Francois Adlas, a Financial Adviser and Personal Assistant to Mr. Afaf Al Zahra, a Lebanese business man who lost his life alongside with his families and some of his business partners in the plane crash in Republic of Benin in 2003.
I am sending this letter concerning his UNCLAIMED funds worth of Eleven Million Seven Hundred Thousand Dollars with his Bank in Benin which he left behind before his demise.
I urge you to help this deceased fulfill their wishes and their unfinished mission. With due respect, I only need a beneficiary to claim this funds from the bank to avoid loosing it to government. You and I know that I cannot claim this funds being the personal assistant and a financial adviser on funds to this family but if you are ready to do this you get 70% of the funds while 30% is mine.
So I urge anyone reading this message to consider the content as it concerns what is expected of the beneficiary and the ability to abide by it and this will be explained in details in due course.
I await your response.
Francois Adlas

Anti-fraud resources: