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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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Fraud email example:

From: "MRS MARIAM ABACHA" <mrsmariamabacha5000@msn.com>
Reply-To: abachamariam97@yahoo.ca
Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 10:48:23 +0000
Subject: urgent business co-operation

ATLAS OIL NIGERIA LIMITED
(A Subsidiary of Abacha real estates)
>From the Desk of her Excellency.
Dr.Mrs.Mariam Abacha.

Dear good friend,

This might seem very deplorable for a person that you
do not know but as the title implies I am Dr Mrs
Mariam Abacha, wife of the late General Sani
Abacha.I am contacting you due to the present
situation as regards the special panel set up by the
present democratic administration in my country
(Nigeria) under the anti-corruption law passed mainly
to recover what they termed "Abacha's looted money".
this law is yet another smear campaign aimed mainly to
frustrate, humiliate, dismember and widen the scope
of hatred to our family. A personal vendetta by
President Obasanjo who was jailed by my husband's
Government for plotting a coup d 'etat against his
administration. This highly calculated attemptby
this administration cum Swiss government through
bi-lateral relationship has taken away from us over
US$1.4billion in Switzerland. The rampaging situation
in our accounts abroad has yielded to the barbaric
pressure and just last month we were squished out of
another US$395m and all this funds can be ascertained
independently. You may wish to confirm this from a
leading newspaper in Nigeria (This Day) from their
website at www.thisdayonline.com from the archives
section in the March 10,2001,January 26,2002 and
FEBRUARY 21,2002 editions. This government is bent
on destroying our family. You may be aware that my
son (Mohammed), heir apparent to the family just got
out of prison after 3 years of detention. Therefore,
I am soliciting for genuine partners that I can
invest the family fortune that is scattered all over
the world. According to my estimation in abroad
alone we still have about US$18m in cash in a
Security Company that we intend to invest abroad
through your assistance. For the purpose of
investment in areas of your interest, contact me as a
handsome reward of 30%of the total sum awaits you,
subject to our negotiation and agreement. You can
contact me via my e-mail for security reason for
further details for now. In the event of you not
being interested in this proposal, endeavor to keep
this highly confidential! Thanks

Dr Mrs Mariam Abacha


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