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: "Ms. Evelyn Howard" <tonypeters010@gmail.com>
Reply-To: he567999986@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2022 15:42:58 +0100
Subject: Urgent Information.

--
Urgent Information.

This is from the desk of the unit head, International Financial
Intelligence Unit, London Data Center.

We intercepted a government official from Africa who was in possession
of an ATM/Debit card that has been activated in your name. Further
investigation revealed that the government official, in collaboration
with others, tried to divert your funds to a Colombian account.

The issue is currently being cleared up with the government through
the American consulate, our agency was advised to contact you for a
fiduciary documentation to enable the bank to issue a new debit card
to you through a corresponding bank in the US.

Your response is being awaited to enable us begin the transaction
normalization process.

I hope you will give priority to this information and get back to me
as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Ms. Evelyn Howard,
International Financial Intelligence Unit,
London Data Center.
25, Grosvenor Square, Mayfair,
London. W1K 6JP.

Anti-fraud resources: