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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: williamskab3@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 03 Oct 2006 20:07:28 +0200
Subject: proposal

Dear Sir / Madam

This letter may come to you as a surprise, but be assured that it is in good
faith from a family in dare need of help. I am Mrs. Doreen williams, the wife
of late
mr jonathan williams, a coloured farmer In Zimbabwe; I am contacting
you for assistance due to the recent problems that my family is facing in
Zimbabwe.After the last general elections in my country when the incumbent
President Mr. Robert Mugabe won he adopted a very aggressive land reform
programme. During this period of the Land Reform Act of which many rich
White farmers were killed, our farmland was attacked, houses were demolish,
looted and burnt down by militants sponsored by the dictator President Robert
Mugabe and in the process my husband was killed. Before his death, he had
traveled to south africa to deposit the sum of $23,000,000.00
(Twenty Three Million United States of American Dollars) with a security/finance
company in south africa, as he foresaw the Looming dangers in Zimbabwe. The amount
was meant for the purchase of new machineries and Chemicals proposed for new farms
in Zimbabwe and Namibia . This cash was kept with the Security Company for fear of
seizure by the Government, as President Mugabe had declared war on white farmers.
We flee zimbabwe and curently staying in south africa as political asylum sekers.
i try to open an bank account so that i can deposite the money but i was denied to
do so due to tough south african law on refugee. It is due to this situation that
we have decided to contact you for assistance to make claims of this fund from the
security firm in South Africa on behalf of my family. As soon as you claim this fund
you will transfer it into your account, deduct your share and secure our share
until we come over to your country. For your assistance you will be entitled
to 27% of the total fund, While 5% will be used for any expenses that we may incur
in the course of this transaction.
Note that you will assist us invest our share of this funds in a profitable business
in your country with your supervision. please if you are in position to help us
contact my son roland on his direct telephone number 27833317365 or fax448703890213 .

Best regard and God bless.

NB: For more information on the death of my father and the problems in
Zimbabwe see the links below:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/772524.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1878846.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/03/18/zimbabwe.farmer
http://www.guardian.co.uk/zimbabwe/article/0,2763,181153,00.html
<http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/africa/08/09/zimbabwe.farmers>


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