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: fikzuma@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 06 Oct 2005 11:49:34 +0200
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL

MR Fidel Sankzuma
JOHANNESBURG,
SOUTH-AFRICA.

Dear Sir/madam
HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL


Greetings .

This mail may come to you as a surprise but I plead with you to patiently read through it before making a decision whether to assist me or not.

l wish to solicit for your assistance in the transaction which l strongly believe will be of mutual benefit to both of us if treated with trust and confidentiality that it deserve.

My name is Mr. Fidel Sankzuma, a branch manager of a leading bank in South Africa. l and two of my colleagues wish to seek your assistance in the transfer of some huge sum of money into a foreign bank account.

This money was deposited in a fixed deposit account in the bank by an American national, seven years ago. The length of time for the maturity of the fixed deposit was five years which expired towards the ending of last two years. Incidentally, Mr.Jeff Stevens, who was the beneficiary died in a car Accident here in south Africa,in may 2000 and he left nobody as next-of-kin to claim this money. All efforts made to trace any known relations of his proved abortive, and no one has written our bank in this regard.

All modalities for the successful transfer of this money into an offshore bank account have been put in place and we are looking for a trust worthy foreign partner into whose bank account this fund would be remitted to and it is this regard that my colleagues have mandated me to provide a partner who will assist us. We have agreed to compensate you with 25% of the total amount if you should accept to assist us.

lf you are interested in giving us the required assistance, kindly reply this mail stating your Telephone/Fax numbers for further action. Because of the secrecy surrounding this transaction, l suggest that you contact me only through e-mail , until further notice.

l am looking forward to a favorable reply from you soon. Feel free to ask any question in this regard.

l remain,

Yours Faithfully,

Mr. Fidel Sankzuma.

Anti-fraud resources: