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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Mike Williams" <mikewilliams208@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: mikewilliams1@edumail.co.za
Date: Wed, 23 Nov 2005 23:07:51 -0500
Subject: FROM MAJOR MIKE

FROM MAJOR MIKE


Dear Sir,

I am Major Mike S. wlliams,a senior security officer under charles
Taylor,former Liberian President.Having got great affection and absolute
appreciation for your human and personality,I wish to contact you for
absolute help to safeguard and bank this sum of $16.1m(Sixteen Million One
Hundred Thousand Dollars)into your account for me,preferably we can split
the sum into three bank accounts if your account will not accommodate all
the sum.presently this money is in the security vault in Europe.

I am a senior security officer in charge of arms and ammunition of Charles
Taylor troops.I and three officers were assigned to purchase arms and
ammunition in france,on getting to Ghana,we heard a news that U.S.A.
government had given an ultimatum for our president,Charles Taylor to leave
the country for a political asylum with immediate effect.

Perhaps,we saw this as a golden opportunities to divert the funds $48.4 for
our personal usage,then the funds were shared among us $16.1m each.

The arrangement of sharing this money is as a result of helping ourselves
and family since our president has been sent out by U.S government on
political asylum in Nigeria.The future of my family depends on this fund and
as much as i will be very grateful if you can assist me to bank this fund.

Note:I don't want the leadership of president Charles Taylor to have idea of
where i am and the fund.When this fund is cleared and banked in your
nominated account,i will meet with you to establish an investment with your
assistance . i am presently on political assylum in Pretoria South Africa,
and my present status does not allow me to make a trip out of my present
jurisdiction

For your reward and expected sevices 40% will be for you,while 60% will be
for my family investment.

For now, you can contact me through this email address.once we establish
good contact i shall then give to you my telephone number and also give you
information on how to claim the funds.

May happy days & a fair future awaits you as you deserve.

Thanks
Major Mike S. Williams



Anti-fraud resources: