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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: "Dr. Chester Lumka" <drchesterlk@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: drclumka@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2006 12:26:22 +0700
Subject: Proposal

Dear Friend,
I want you to patiently read this offer that will surely benefit both of us. My name is Chester Lumka. I am a Lawyer and a native of Durban in South Africa. I got a good piece of information about you from one of my acquired directories during my search for a trust-worthy and honest person who can handle this confidential business with me.
Through the smuggling and selling of diamonds from South Africa to England, I was able to make $10m USD cash. The money is currently deposited with a bank in England, as I cannot go to the bank because I deposited it with the name of foriegner for security reasons. Now I want to withdraw this fund from the bank for proper investment like real eastate, tourism industry etc.
This is why I decided to contact you. I want to present you as my foreign partner whose name was used to make this deposit so that I can withdraw my fund out of the bank in your name and transfer it to you, where you will receive it and keep it until I come over to meet with you in your country. All plans and arrangements on how to move the cash from the bank to your nominated bank account in your country has been properly put in place.
For assisting and also helping me in investing the money in a business that will bring quick and good profits, you will benefit a reasonable part of the total money.
Please reply this message as soon as you read it to let me know your mind on this proposition. Send me your private phone, fax and mobile phone numbers as you reply this message. Once I am convinced that you are totally willing to cooperate with me on this assignment, I will let you know how to go about this. Note that this proposal is a top secret and should be kept confidential at all time. While I hope to hear from you.
Best regards,
Dr. Chester Lumka



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