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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: ha_alfarouk@zipmail.com.br
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2006 04:20:13 +0200
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?My=20Regards?=

Greetings,

Please I know that this mail may come to you as surprise as we haven't met
or known each other but after going through your profile i believe that
you are a nice person and capable of assisting me. I write to solicit for
your urgent and kind assistance.

I am a Sierra Leonean, 23 yrs old and only son of late DR USMAN ALFAROUK.
Until his death, he was the Regional Manager of the Diamond Mine in Kanema,
Sierra Leone. My Mum died earlier on a plane crash. On April 6th, 2000 the
military forces loyal to the government of TIJAN KABBAH invaded the diamond
mine and assassinated him, mistaking him for his brother, MR AHMED ALFAROUK
who was the deputy to the leader of the Revolutionary

United Front (RUF) MR FODAY SANKOH. When the news reached our house, I hurriedly
gathered some valuables in our family home and escaped to a West African
country. Among the valuables was a file that contains details of Four Million
Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars (US$4.5 Million) deposit made in a Security
Company in Abidjan, Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) by my late Father. The money
was concealed in a box as family valuables.

Now that I am in Abidjan and have verified the deposit, I need your assistance
to help me retrieve the deposit from the Security Company as my Father's
foreign partner and my Guardian. Once the deposit is safely retrieved to
your country you will help me to leave this country to meet you for proper
investment and to continue my education. Please I am willing to offer you
some percentage of the total sum for your kind assistance.

Thanks and God bless you while looking forward to hearing from you through
my email ha_alfarouk@yahoo.fr

Harry.




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