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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: "Angelie Martinez" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrsangelie57@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 6 May 2024 03:03:16 -0700
Subject: Reply me now

Hello Dear,
I am Mrs Angelie Martinez, I was the Administrative manager at (Mossack Fonseca & Co.) This was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider,  It was an offshore security Company that was shut down a couple of years ago.
 
I am contacting you based on a financial Opportunity , I received an email from (Barr Michael Waks) this is a Lawyer that was assigned by the offshore security Company (Mossack Fonseca & Co) This mail is about an abandoned sum of  2.7m US dollars (Two million seven hundred thousand  United states  dollars) that is up for termination in the Upcoming weeks the Funds could be one of several hundreds which might be subject to liquidation if not moved to a different account.
These funds belong to one of our foreign customers we have not heard from for a very long time before the shut down of the company. We have no idea if he is alive as the suspicious case may be in our minds.
 
I got your contact information when going through an old file of our clients and I found a record of this client who happens to bear the same surname with you which we found on the record file you being his next of Kin in the record your name and email contact was shared in the record. Kindly reply back for more info on how to receive the funds.
 
Regards,
Mrs. Angelie  Martinez

Anti-fraud resources: