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"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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: salman ABEL <sablegl450@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Mar 2023 16:31:19 +0000
Subject:

My name is Mr. Salman Abel, I am the Operations Director at a bank in the
republic of Togo, West Africa.
Succinctly, I want to ask for your help in getting back the money left
behind by a deceased foreign customer which I discovered during my auditing
exercise in my branch.The amount found was Fourteen million, one hundred
thousand dollars (14,100,000 USD) and since the efforts to reach the family
of the deceased depositor proved that there was no survivor in the family,
I decided to contact you so that we can claim the money as the next of kin.
At the successful end of the transfer to your bank account, you and I will
share the money by 50/50 equal share.

We are not hurting anyone by making this claim. Also, it is not wise to
leave the money which will eventually end up in the hands of a few corrupt
government officials while we have the opportunity to better the lives of
the less privileged in our societies.

We have to do this within the shortest time possible because the money may
be diverted to the Treasury Department's account if not claimed now. If you
are willing to do this with me, write back. I am waiting for your consent
in order to step forward.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Salman Abel

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