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: "Alfonso Williams<linfons.williams@aim.com>" <smsh.caps.bomjardim@empro.com.br>
Reply-To: Alfonso Williams <linfons.williams@aim.com>
Date: Sat, 01 Feb 2014 00:57:26 -0200 (BRST)
Subject: Resp. sir

Dearest, please we need your kind help.

Please permit my request. My name is Alfonso and my sister's name is Linda. We are the children of late Mr. Benson Williams from Republic of Sierra Leone. We are writing to seek your help and advice. I found your contact address through my late father's international business directory and I decided to contact you to seek your kind assistance. It is through that i do not know you in person and you may not be the right person or may not have done any business with my late father in the past. Actualy we lost our parents few months ago in a ghastly motor accident. My mother died instantly when the accident happened but my father sustained a very severe injury which resulted to his untimely death four days after he was rushed down to a private hospital. My late father was into road construction as an engineer and was dealing on heavy equipments maintenance also exportation and sales of mineral ilmenite and zircon sand in the black market before he died.

Before the death of my father at the hospital, he revealed to me about the sum of eight million three hundred thousand dollars he deposited in the bank in Ivory Coast for his business investments with his overseas business partners. Now because of the condition which we have found our self at this our tender age since after the demise of our parents, we want to finally relocate to your country with this money so that we can invest it properly in real estate as instructed by my late father and also further our education. We are now in Ivory Coast and have visited the bank where my late father deposited the money and have identified ourselves properly and also informed them about the sad fate my family had suffered. The bank told me that my late father deposited the money in their bank escrow account for safe keep and with a clause attached to it for onward transfer into a foreign account, and now that my father is late and considering the status of the deposit i will have to come forward with my guardian or my late father's foreign business partner who can stand on my behalf as stated in the depository agreement which my late father signed with their bank the day he deposited the money. The bank said that the agreement written and signed between them and my late father must be followed before the money will be released which brings the reason why i have contacted you for help.

On the agreement my late father stated that the money will be transferred to his foreign business partners bank account abroad for investments purposes. Because of our limited status, the bank is now requesting that I should provide my guardian or my late father's overseas business partner in whose bank account they are going to transfer the money as stated in the agreement. Since my late father did not state the name or address of his overseas business partner, i do not know anybody abroad and i cannot involve my late father's half brother as instructed by my late father before he died at the hospital that i should not let his half brother know about the money because he suspected he was the one who planned the mysterious accident that caused his death so that he will inherit his vast properties as our culture demands. He advised me that i and my little sister should secretly leave our home town Sierra Leone to any foreign country of our choice. This was why I searched through my late father's international business directory to see if I can find contact address of any of his overseas business partners who can help us with all sincerity and honesty. It was during my search that i found your contact address and i decided to contact you so that you will help us stand as our late father's overseas business partner over this money so that the bank will release and transfer the money to your bank account in your country and after that you will use it to secure our future in your peaceful country by helping us invest it into real estate or any other profitable business that you will consider. You will help us to come over to your country and secure a good college for us so that we can continue our college education and also make arrangement for a good business investment which you will invest with the money on our behalf.

We are willing to give you any amount which you will wish to have after receiving the money in your safe bank account. If you can help us do this, we will need the information which the bank people can use to contact you so that we can go and present it to the bank as our guardian so that the bank will contact you. We do not need your bank account because the bank did not ask for your bank account. I do not know if my late father has done any business with you in the past but i pray and hope that you can help us do this so that we can have the money successfully released and transferred to your country. Thank you and May God bless you and your family as you help us achieve our dream of relocating to your country to start a new life and further our education under your guardianship.

Alfonso & Linda

Anti-fraud resources: