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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: "williamc11@terra.es" <williamc11@terra.es>
Date: Mon, 9 Oct 2006 04:13:25 +0200 (MEST)
Subject: INVESTMENT


Gen. William Colgate Rtd.

I am general William Colgate (RETIRED); Address, Plot 35
Anifowoshe street, Ikeja, Lagos, Nigeria.

I am contacting you courtesy of an internet address listing; THIS IS NOT A SPAM MAIL, and I appeal to you to exercise a little patience and read through my letter, and I guarantee you will not have wasted your time.

As you are probably aware, Liberia, a West African
Territory was embroiled in a protracted civil war for many years. This war of attrition eventually attracted World attention because of the suffering of both the many warring parties which constantly changed alliances and allegiances, and the innocent civilian refugees. There were allegations of much atrocities committed and human rights abuses.

Nigeria, under the leadership of General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (retired Head of State of Nigeria), appealed to the United Nations for help. The later encouraged Nigeria to mediate between the many protagonists. Nigeria subsequently put together the coalition of 13 member Economic Community of West African States, and the regional PEACE KEEPING FORCE KNOWN AS ECOMOG was born! I was privileged to be the first inaugural commander of the Peace keeping force, and I immediately moved into the camp site at the outskirts of Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia to take my command.

The peace keeping exercise was a total success , and
eventually the rebel Samuel Doe was captured and the manylesser war lords contained. Eventually Mr. Charles Taylor,whose faction was recognized by ECOWAS was helped to establish an acceptable Government; peace was restored; and the rest is history.

During the final onslaught which resulted in the capture of Samuel Doe, the campaign was eticulously planned and executed flawlessly; Samuel oe’s Headquarters was seized by my men, and much ammunition as usual were recovered; However, 2 large trunk boxes were also recovered and I immediately ordered them taken to my quarters because there were rampant cases of pilfering and outright looting by the Soldiers (the Soldiers came from different Countries and sometimes discipline was hard).

When I examined the Trunk boxes, I got a shock! They were stacked full of 100 Dollar bills! To my inexperienced eye, I estimated that the boxes must contain at least 50 Million Dollars! I was faced with an instant dilemma…I dared not declare this discovery to the Military High command; the money would promptly disappear into private pockets of the Military high brass. I immediately swore my ADC to secrecy and decided to transport the boxes into Nigeria.

I used my powers to requisition a Hercules Transport AirPlane under my Command and airlifted the boxes to Nigeria. Needless to say, Our Aircrafts and militaryequipment/property do not undergo Customs checks.

Accordingly I immediately took the trunk boxes and
deposited them in a safe deposit box belonging to Bullion Security Company Nig. Ltd. Of course No one knows the content of these boxes and I simply listed “VALUABLES” in the deposit form and I paid the token charge of 2,500.00 USD per annum.

The date was 15th January, 1991.I deliberately waited for the right political climate to move this money abroad for investment purposes. The time is now right because a properly elected Civilian Government is now in charge of Nigeria.

I need your help because I am a highly visible personality, and any attempt by me to transfer this money to a foreign Country will fail. Also the law in Nigeria does not allow serving or retired Military Personnel to own/operate foreign Bank Accounts in their name…I have therefore thought out a perfect and 100% risk free method of transferring this money abroad, with your help. It is simple.

If you are interested in helping me, please reply immediately, giving me your phone and fax numbers and I will give you further details ; we will then establish a game plan to achieve our aim. Please bear in mind that as far as you are concerned,

this transaction IS NOT ILLEGAL and we will NOT ENTER INTO ILLEGALITIES AT ANY STAGE OF THE TRANSACTION TO TRANSFER THIS FORTUNE ABROAD; EVERYTHING WILL BE TRANSPARENT AND PROPER.
PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH ME ON THIS E-MAIL ADDRESS:williamcolgate01@yahoo.dk

This is the word of a military officer.
Thank you,
Gen. William Colgate .





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