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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: "kathrine Buthelezi" <kathrineb01@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: kathrinebuthe@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2006 19:15:20 +0200
Subject: kindest attention Sir,I urgently need your assistance

Mrs. katherine Buthelezi
127 Ilovo Street, Johannesburg,
South Africa.

Attention: Director/CEO,
WE URGENTLY NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE.

Dear Sir,

I appologize for using this unsolicited medium the internet to reach you,
but avail this opportunity to introduce my self as Mrs. katherine Buthelezi
. I got your contact through my search for a reliable God fearing person who
will help me and my family in transferring a reasonable amount of money
overseas for investment purposes. After going through your profile, I
decided to solicit your help
for this urgent and important task.

I am the wife of Late Dr.George Buthelezi , a Zimbabwean politician,
business man and farmer who was kidnapped and killed recently by dissident
militants of President Robert Mugabe for being suspected to have against his
(President Mugabe's) political decisions to seize white owned farms and
freely give them to blacks. You may have heard of the present crisis in
Zimbabwe caused by Land reform act of the government of Robert Mugabe in
which his government has arbitrarily reclaimed and acquired all farm lands
owned by the white farmers in the country. This has caused a
historical displacement of the white folks who are known to be the country's
main farmers, and also killing and imprisonment of thousands of these white
farm owners by the ruthless government forces. My husband in his good joined
the international community in condemning and speaking out against this
uncivilized and bizarre policy of the government.

Before the sudden death of my husband, he was a trustee of the Zimbabwean
main opposition party (Movement to Democratic Change. MDC). this party is
the main opponent to President Robert Mugabe's bad rulership of the ZUNU PF.
Four days after my husband was kidnapped, he managed to snick out a letter
to me explaining his condition and about a big brown envelope he hid in the
roof
of his bedroom.

In this letter my late husband revealed to me about a box containing the sum
of: US$ 10.2M (Ten Million Two hundred Thousand United States Dollars),
which he had deposited in a security company in nearby South Africa for
safekeeping. He also made me to understand from the letter that
he did not disclose the content of this box to the company for security
reasons. The box was deposited as diamond. The brown envelope contained all
documents of deposit.

This fund was set aside by my husband to purchase new farm machineries for
his new farms in Maputo and Swaziland.

As if he foresaw the looming danger and considering the risk which we stand,
my late husband instructed us (I and My two Sons) to move out of Zimbabwe
for our safety and that we successfully did. Now, we are currently residing
in nearby South Africa as asylum seekers (political refugees) with all the
important documents of this fund.

However, considering the existing law in South Africa which does not allow
asylum seekers/refugees like us to operate a bank account or invest, it is
very difficult for us to use this money, and instead
we are paying the security company heavily each month for keeping this fund.
This is the reason why I am seeking your assistance in transferring this
fund immediately into your bank account in your country until we arrive in
your country for investing the money.

For your assistance, I and my children have agreed to compensate you very
well for the assistance you will grant us based on what we shall agree upon
together. Also, it is my wish to let you know that we intend to invest part
of this fund in your country under your guidance

Finally, I will like to remind you that the most important factor in this
transaction is TRUST. I urge you to give this transaction the
confidentiality it deserves and do notify me by Phone or e-mail for
more details if you intend helping us to commence with this transfer.

Please reply to my confidential yahoo email address(kathrinebuthe@yahoo.com)

Thanking you while I wait for your kindest reply.
Yours Truly,

Mrs. katherine Buthelezi

_________________________________________________________________
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