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: "Dip Bill Hilton" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dipbillhilton2020y@yandex.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Jun 2021 04:49:17 +0100
Subject: I would like to introduce myself as Bill Hilton

Greetings

I would like to introduce myself as Bill Hilton

I feel quite safe dealing with you in this important business. Though this medium has been I choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of communication. However, this correspondence is private, and it should be treated in strict confidence. I work with Bank UBS government Diplomat AG Zurich at their offshore department, I will be happy to work this deal out with you if you have a corporate Business or personal Bank Account and if you will keep it confidential

During our last periodic auditing I discovered some dormant accounts with holding balances of €2.5 million beneficiary.

Sometimes a person will open a bank account, deposit money, and then disappear into the tin air. Banks are not always able to find out what has become of these silent customers, or to know whether they should follow up on requests from people who claim to be heirs to the accounts. The main problem is that the customer is no longer available the account is dormant and, due to bank secrecy, the bank cannot publish notices in the international press to locate the depositories. This has led the majority of Swiss banks policy kindly provide your full name and address and contact details to verify it to been able activate the account with it before we proceed with the funds transfer into your beneficiary
Sincerely in service
Dip Bill Hilton

Anti-fraud resources: