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: "benjamin0158@cantv.net" <benjamin0158@cantv.net>
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2010 15:50:24 -0430
Subject: Dearest one

Dearest one
 
We knew it is wrong to contact you through this means but we are  desperate and our present condition now is too frustrating, that was why we  use this medium to fasten  up our request by contacting you after viewing your profile. I am Benjamin Peter Mataruse, the son of the late asassinated senator, Peter Mataruse of zimbabwe .
 
I am presently  in Abidjan, capital city of Cote D'Ivoire(Ivory Coast )in west Africa with my junior sister Sonia Mataruse, for the past 11 months now. We want you to assist us provide a  bank account either new or old ,so that the bank here will transfer my father's  money into your account in your country and also take us out of this country. Why I contacted you is because we left our country last 11 months due to the aftermath of the presidential election  in our country zimbabwe which  the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) leader  "Morgan Tsvangirai" claimed to have won,and President Mugabe is clamping down heavily on perceived political opponents in my country.
 
Now,we had arrived this country and went to the bank last week to withdraw this money since my late father use my name as the next of kin to the deposit, but we were told by the bank director that my late father made an agreement with them that i have to get to the age of 25yrs before i can make claim of the money or alternatively i should provide a guardian who can make the claim on my behalf.  The amount involved is USS$7,000,000.00 (UNITED STATES DOLLARS), and we will be glad to offer you 15% of the total sum for assisting us.
 
We beg for the confidentiality of this message as we will wait for your urgent reply with your.
(1)FULL NAME....(2)CONTACT ADDRESS...(3)TELE/FAX NUMBER..as these are the only things needed by the bank from us as we assure you of our sincerelity and honesty.
 
Thanks and remained blessed  in the Lord as we await your urgent response
 please you can call me with my phone number +225-44-99-09-87

Yours sincerely
Benjamin  Mataruse

Anti-fraud resources: