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: benjamin malwal <benmalwal@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 30 Sep 2005 17:59:25 +0100
Subject: Action Required



Dear sir,

How are you doing today? I am Mr.Malwal Benjamin from Darfur, Western Sudan.I got your contact in my search for a honest and trustwhorthy individual who could handle this magnitude of an impending business transaction. I want you to help me invest in the purchase of Residential Commercial Properties in your area.

During the Crisis in my country my father Dr.Malwal Joseph was shot to death in his house on the 3rd of September 2003. Before his death he was the Aviation Minister Of Sudan.My mother and two sisters also died during the sudan Crisis,I am the only surviving person,presently I'm taking refuge in a nearby African Country where I have with me all documents covering the deposit of the sum of (US$17,500.000 USD) by my father in a Finance company in London,UK. The money was put in a trunk box for safekeeping and the trunk box containing the funds declared as "African Arts and Family Treasure" to the management of the finance company in for security reasons.

At the moment, I'm soliciting for your assistance to claim the funds from the finance company and also I would need you to help me invest the money in the purchase of Private and Commercial properties in your country.I promise you for your assistance a reward of 10% of the above mentioned amount , while 5% will be for expenses that incured during the process of this transaction. I will be looking forward to a good business relationship with you.

Sincere Regards
Mr.Malwal Benjamin

These websites below will help you understand what I am presently going through :
http://www.exxun.com/Sudan/j_cf.html
http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/sudan/index.do
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/what_we_do/where_we_work/sudan/emergency/
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2004/sudan/
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/africa/08/15/sudan/
http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/cida_ind.nsf/0/3DA49BA30696A42285256E94004970E7?OpenDocument

Anti-fraud resources: