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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.

Click here to report a problem with this page.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: strasser john <johnstra200@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: johnstra2006@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:08:20 +0100
Subject: from john


Dear Sir/Madam,
Forgive me, if this letter comes to you as a surprise without your
consent.
I got your contact during my quest for a reliable person to entrust and
disclose my family inheritance in confidence; hence I decided to
contact you
on a mutual family relationship.
My name is John Strasser, I am 23 years old and my Sister (Jeena) she
is 20
years old. I am son of late Chief. Donald Strasser of the blessed
memory. We
hailed from Buake town in Republic of Cote D' Voire (Ivory - Coast) The
Rebels murdered my father and two of his brothers late last year 2004,
during there uprising in my country and lot of people was killed and
many
properties destroyed by these militia rebels. Now left my age mother,
sister
and myself. After the sudden death of my father and uncles, my mother
took
us to her country Ghana, where we are taking refuge. However, before
the
death of my father, he disclosed to me that he took away huge sum of
money
US$11, 200,000, and deposited
these money in a Bank in Europe , for safe - keeping as a Family
Treasures. My late father also advice me to look for a trusted foreign
partner that will assist me to claim these funds from this Bank and
transfer
the whole money overseas where it will be secured for my family future
investments. Based on this fact, I decide to contact you. Please if you
accept to assist me, I want you to stand as my late father's business
partner and apply to the Bank for claims ownership of my family
inheritance
funds, because my father disclosed that he wrote in his "WILL" that his
foreign Business Partner will assist his FAMILY to claims these funds
from
the aforementioned Bank. My mother is very ill, she is suffering from
Cancer
of the Breast, and my family is now surviving through the help of the
Church
we attend. If you are really willing to help my family, we can
negotiate
what will be your percentage of my inheritance funds. I will send you
the
full contact address of the Bank where these funds are deposited, after
you
have indicated your readiness to help my family. You can contact me on
the
above email address or by telephone. Please do not forget to include
your
direct contacts Phone and Fax.
Thank you.
John strtasser
E mail:johnstra2006@yahoo.com

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