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: Johnson Williams <olwise07@gmail.com>
Reply-To: johwilliams20@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 07:32:01 +0000
Subject: Reply

--
Attn:

Greetings,

Please, do accept my sincere apologies if this email does not suit
your business or personal ethic. My name is Johnson Williams, I am a
financial consultant. I am contacting you in respect of my late
client’s fund valued $94 Million USD. The deceased deposited the funds
in the vaults of financial institution without giving details of the
next of kin; now there is the risk of losing the funds to the State if
nobody is presented as the heir of the depositor and beneficiary of
the funds.

Due to my relationship with the transaction, I am in position to
present the next of kin/beneficiary of the funds. And I have contacted
you with the hope you would let me establish you as the next of kin,
and have you claim the funds. If you are willing and capable of
handling this project, it will benefit both of us.

I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate arrangement
that will protect us from the breach of any Law. So, please rest
assured that this transaction is risk free and should be kept very
confidential.

I am looking forward to your response.

Warm Regards
Johnson Williams

Anti-fraud resources: