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: Marie Stanford <hartrondy@gmail.com>
Reply-To: marystandford9@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 8 Sep 2021 15:18:19 +0100
Subject: PLEASE READ AND REPLY ME

Peace be with you;

My name is Mrs. Marie Stanford, I am a widow suffering from breast
cancer and renal failure. I was married to my late husband Mr. Robert
Stanford, worked with BASF (Badische Anilin und Soda Fabrik) Germany,
and we were married for many years without a child before his death.

I inherited the sum of sum of €6.500.000.00 Euro from my late
husband, and I am in serious need of a good and honest person who will
claim the funds from the Bank where it was deposited and funds use for
donations to less-privileged and orphanage homes, building schools for
the destitute and disaster affected people.

I decided to contact you for this donation as part of my contribution
to help mankind and I would be happy anywhere I may be. I do not need
any telephone communication in this regards because of my present
health condition in accordance to my doctor's guideline report, get
back to me so that I will direct you to the Bank where this funds
were deposited by my late husband to enable you retrieve the funds in
my name as the next of kin if you can be able to carry out this
humanitarian projects as i have wished.

Best regards.
Mrs. Marie Stanford

Anti-fraud resources: