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: martine buma <anorrd55@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2017 22:01:06 +0000
Subject: For your kind attention




Dear Friend.

My name is Martine Buma. I am working with one of the leading Banks here in Ghana. I would need your consent to present you as the next of kin of our late customer, who died of a car accident in 2008. She was a wealthy gold business woman, who deposited a large sum of money (USD9.4M) in our Bank. She died without any registered kin.

I was her account officer and have in my possession all the documents required to present you as her beneficiary next of kin. I contacted you because you are of the same country with our late client and can perfectly fit in as next of kin, We can work together to make this fund.

Listen, this is real and goes on in Banks all over the world without people to know. Let us take advantage of this opportunity, because it does not come always. A lot of customers open private accounts with different Banks without the knowledge of their families, and when they die, such money will be lost to the Bank unless someone comes to claim it. This is how a lot of Bank Directors make so much money silently.

On your confirmation of this message and indicating your interest, I will provide you with more details. Please endeavor to provide me the following, so that we can discuss in detail

1)mobile phone numbers
2)full name
3)contact address and occupation

I urgently hope to get your reply as soon as possible.

With Kind Regards,
Martine Buma

Anti-fraud resources: