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: "Mark E Wilson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <edbbny@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2022 10:39:38 -0700
Subject: Attention Beneficiary

Attention Beneficiary ,
 
Be officially informed that the scams revalidation committee which was set up by Joe Biden and also agreed in the last UN General  Assembly and your name was shortlisted among the beneficiaries that there payment file have being delayed most must part of the world am an agent working in conjunction with the Federal ProsecutorsOffice and other Federal entities. We are investigating criminal organizations within the US and overseas.
 
These criminal organizations are based on a lot of scams like online relationships, identity theft and much more. Unfortunately, your name phone and address have been flagged in our system because of transactions that you have been making to In order to display more information about your  case you should get back to me with your cell phone number and full name and address.
 
Treat with importance!
 
Thanks
Mark E Wilson
Homeland Security

Anti-fraud resources: