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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: fatim.johnson@hotmail.com
Date: Sun, 21 Oct 2012 11:18:45 +0800
Subject: My love

Hello dear,
I know i may appear to you as a stranger,however before i proceed to sharing the message i have for you,i will like to formerly introduce myself.
My name is Mrs Fatima Johnson and my husband is Mr Andrew Johnson. I am from the Republic of U.A.E while my husband is a Briton.We have been married for 18 years. We met and fell in love in Dubai while my husband was working as a contractor with an oil company in Dubai.
Initially my parents did not support my relationship to my husband because he was a foreigner and a Christian because of that we eloped to UK and married in a court in London.

My marriage was quite blessed until my husband and my only son,Brian was killed in a suicide bomb blast in Afghanistan seven years ago when they visited the country for a contract job. Since the death of my husband and my only child,I have not been able to recover from the shock of the incident.I have been very sick and was recently diagnosed with liver inflammation.
The medical report has indicated that ,i might not survive the next three months because of the complications on my liver.I have visited many specialists hospitals both home and abroad,yet the result has remained the same .I am only surviving by the Grace of God and due to my good will.What is presently bothering me is not the state of my health but who inherits my wealth when i die.This is the one reason why i have chosen to share this life secret to you.

Before the death of my husband,we have opened a joint account in Lloyds bank of London with a total deposit of Four million five hundred thousand British pounds sterling,(£4,500,000). After the death of my husband,i automatically become the beneficiary and owner of the money.
But for a very long time i have been unable to visit the bank to service the account due to my present condition of health and so the account has been rendered dormant, bank manager has snotified me several times to evecuate the money from the bank or provide a next of kin to claim the money or loose the money to the bank.My supposed next of kin is my only child who have died along my husband in the accident in Afghanistan.I became confused and for the fact that the bank manager has warned that if i fail to evacuate the money or provide the next of kin ,the fund will be confiscated or used by the bank.I did not find this funny so i decided to look for a way out and this way until i got your contact online.
I have decided to make you my next of kin and hand you over all the money in the bank.All my life i have been praying to God to direct me to a stranger who i could better his life because i can remember how my husband has told me how a stranger has made him rich.

I want to reciprocate that kindness and love the stranger has shown to my husband by making him rich to you by handing the money in the bank to you.
I will be happy to spend the money this way instead of having the bank confiscate the money.
I have contacted the bank manager and have informed him about my intention to move the money out of the bank to my next of kin and the bank manager has requested that i provide the details of my next of kin.
So i will like you to furnish me with your details including your full name,sex,age,country,address,occupation and telephone number to my private email: fatim.johnson@hotmail.com
so i could send that over to the bank manager to begin the process of transferring the money to you.
Please send the information to my private email address fatim.johnson@hotmail.com
I am expecting to receive your response.

Yours truly
Mrs Fatima Johnson

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