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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr Zulu Magama" <michealkelvin2hvg@netscape.net>
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 21:13:48 -0900
Subject: LET'S GO INTO THIS TOGATHER.

Attn: Sir/Madam,

I am Michael Kelvin's, a native of Chinhoyi, Mashonaland west, Zimbabwe. I
got your email contact from the "Web Bulletin Board". Kindly forgive me for
contacting you prior to our initial meeting. However, my family and I are
caught up in the web of land politics, which also led to the death of our
father. We have seen reforms after reforms by the government of Mugabe and
we are fed up with it. Our economy is in shambles and it is just not
profitable and safe enough for us to remain in Zimbabwe. We have decided to
relocate our farm to Swaziland, a neighboring country, where we have
acquired lands. Our capital base is still in Zimbabwe but we are temporarily
living in The Netherlands pending such time that logistics would be ready
for full-scale operation in Swaziland. Bearing in mind that some African
Presidents and their government are playing games over the Zimbabwean land
crisis, every effort has begun in earnest to move our capital base to a
stable country where it can be safer, hence contacting you.
With a capital base of Thirty-eight million, seven hundred and forty-five
thousand United states dollars (U.S$38.745 m), there is a great deal of
secrecy involved to avoid the prying eyes of the government of Zimbabwe and
their agents.
We are therefore contacting you so you can use a magnificent business
technique to transfer this family financial treasure out of Zimbabwe. This
money is presently deposited confidentially with a Security Company as a
safety deposit in Zimbabwe. We have mapped out 15% of the gross sum as due
commission for your expected honest assistance in executing the successful
transfer of this money out of Zimbabwe, for our family investments. Please,
reply via the stated email address: zulumagama@netscape.net and
include your telephone number, immediately if you are interested, so we can discuss further while

we hold this correspondence in the strictest of confidence, which it requires.

God bless you.

Yours truly,

Mr Zulu Magama

Anti-fraud resources: