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: "LINDA SMITH" <linda_smith01@msn.com>
Reply-To: sl_margaret@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Fri, 23 Dec 2005 02:30:15 +0000
Subject: I need to hear from you.

Goodday to you,
first i must beg you to indulge me a little,my name is nethier Linda nor
Smith.I am a Nigerian woman.I know that is likely to put you off,but please
don't let it.My name is heif Mrs. Margaret Alamieye-seigha.Until recently,i
was the first lady of Bayelsa state.My husband has been taken down by those
who out of political rivalry and a desire to appear clean, conived to remove
him from office.I have also been arrested and detained over the same
incident.First,it was in London that he was attacked now it is in our
homeland.The trials are much at present,and i am sure many more will come.At
present,i need help.With court cases to prepare for and no immediate source
of income,i really need help.That is why i write to you.You may wonder how i
got your email address,despite the fact that i do not know you.I searched
the internet.I have been told many times of the advantages of the internet
and never really tapped from it's vast resources till now.
How can you help me?Recently my husband was in London to make a purchase of
an estate.Funds which he leaked out through different sources were
intercepted,and though the British government has said that the funds were
1.8 billion pounds,it was quite in excess of that.I still wonder what has
become of the remainder.Apart from the funds intercepted,there is still a
sum of 28.6 million pounds which was undected.These funds are also in London
and was taken in by relaible aides and deposited in a security company [with
a diffrent name] by my husband shortly before his arrest.Upon his return to
Nigeria[which as you may know was quite dramatic],he intimated the details
of the deposit to me.As you may well imagine,life has become one of constant
scrutiny.If not,i would easily fly into London and take delivery of this
deposit.But this is not possible,though there is always a way.I hope i find
that way with you.What i hope you can help me do is this.I furnish you with
the necessary information and you take possesion of this deposit on my
behalf,then we work out a way that i may reach you somewhere [not Europe
prefarably] so that i can take possesion of the funds.For this,i and my
husband are willing to forgo about 5% of the funds to you.We will also
reimburse all expenses which you may incure or better still a part of this
funds can be set aside for this incidentals.I really hope to hear from you
soonest.

Margaret



Anti-fraud resources: