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

Fraud email example:

From: "MARICEL CATIM" <alises62@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: maricell@walla.com
Date: Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:05:27 +0200
Subject: awaiting for reply

Dearest One ,
I am Maricel Micheal Catim my Late father Chief Micheal Koffi Catim the former Director of military inteligence and special acting General Manager of the Sieria Leone Diamond mining coperation(SLDMC ).I was born in London United Kingdom before my family's moved to our country Sieria Leon to settle dawn.
I just lost my Mom last two month here in the private hosptal in Dakar Senegal,before my mom died she told me that our father has money which what about USD 20,300,000.00 in the Bank to build Hotel investment.I am contacting you to seek your good assistance to transfer and invest USD 20,300,000.00 million dollars, belonging to my late father which is deposited in a Bank in to set up a Hotel or company in the your country or anywhere you may chose to me.
This money is revenues from solid minirals and diamonds sale which were under my fathers possession before the civil war broke out in our country Sierra-Leone. Following the brake out of the war, almost all government offices, coperations and parastatals were attacked and vandalized. The SLDMC was loothed and burnt down to ashes, and diamonds worth millions of dollars was stolen by the rebel military forces who attacked my father's office.
Many top government officials and senior army officers were assasinated and my father was a key target because of his very sensitive military possition and appointment in the SLDMC.Regreatably, our father was captured and murdered along with half my brother's in cool blood during a mid-night rebel shoot-out when our official residence in freetown was armbushed by Fordey Sanko the notorious rebel leader.My mother sustainded very sever bullet injuries which resulted to her untimely and painful death in a private hospital here in Dakar Senegal.
Now i am alone with my brother in a totally strange country without parents, relatives or any body to care of me so i had to leav this country now!!. Before our mother died, she told us everything that our late father deposited some money which was made from diamond sales and contracts is in a bank right now and that i should pray and find a trustworthy foreign business partner who would help me to transfer and invest this money in profitable business venture overseas. She told me to do this quickly so that i will leave Dakar Senegal,then settle down abroad.
She gave me all the bank documents to prove the deposit and then told me that my late father used my name (Alisemaricel Koffi Catim)as the only woman to deposit the money in the bank there.She told me that this is the reasson why we came to the church here in Dakar Senegal to live. My mother died afterwards. May her spirit rest in perfect peace.I have contacted the bank to make inquires about this money and I spoke with the director of International remittance who assured me that everything is ok in their computers. I am 30years and as such the director promised to help me.If you are willing to assist me to get this done,tell me so that i can transfer the money immediately and i will come to your country immediately this money transfard
(1) YOUR FULL NAME.
(2) YOUR HOME AND OFFICE ADDRESS.
(3) YOUR FAX AND YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBERS.
(4) A PHOTOCOPY OF YOUR INTERNERNATIONAL PASSPORT AND YOUR DRIVER'S LICENCE.
Those Items are needed for processing of your legal beneficiary documents thereby creating a legal ground for the transffering of the deposited funds into any of your chosen account in your place.
Once i received those required items from you i shall forward them to the bank as required for the processing of your legal beneficiary documents to enable them facilitate the legal transfer of the funds in to any of your chosen account in your country.
I shall wait to receive the requested items from you.
A lot of love,
Maricel Aloy .Catim.


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