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: "katila julie" <juliekatila0001@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 16:31:31 +0000
Subject: Beloveth One


Dear Respectful Beloveth One,

I am Miss Katila Julie from Cote d'ivoire .

My father late Mr.Katila Norbert was serving executive chairman of board
of the Cocoa exporting board until his death.
He was assassinated by the rebels following the political uprising.

Before his death he told me he had Five Million Dollars (US$5.000.000)
deposited here in Abidjan , Côte d´Ivoire in a private security company. My
father told me, the Five Million dollars ($5,000,000.00) was meant for
investment in Europe before his untimely death.
I have all the documents including the certificate of deposit of the trunk
in the security company which my father handed over to me when he was at the
hospital.

He instructed me to look for a foreign partner who will help me to receive
the trunk box in (his or her) country and also assist me to come over to his
country to continue with my education and also help me to locate a
profitable investment that will be profitable to both of us till I finish
with my education and join him or her in the investment he might have
established with the money the time I was in school. I do not know anything
concerning business investment at present.

I will be more than happy if you accept my request to help me and receive
the trunk box which contains the money into your country or any safer place
as the beneficiary and recipient of the trunk on my behalf.
Please note that the security company does not know the content of the box.

Your suggestions and ideas will be highly regarded. Now permit me to ask
these few questions:

1. Can you honestly help me imagine I am your child?
2. Can I completely trust you?
3. I have decided to offer you 20 % of the total sum.
4. How can you assist me also in moving away from this place?

Thank you so much.
Miss Julie

Anti-fraud resources: