joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "jennife" <jennife_2@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Date: Tue, 19 Oct 2004 04:12:19 +0200
Subject: Dearest One

Dearest One
If I must be fair to myself and to all, I would want to believe that this mail may keep you a little uneasy considering the fact that we do not know each other but frankly, that's the primary reason why I chose to contact you. Really am so sorry as I never meant to put you off-guard by what I intend to tell you here and will appreciate it greatly if you do understand totally my situation and position regarding the subject matter that I am divulging here.
The political situation in my country here, Cote d'Ivoire has indeed dealt a great blow to me and my family. I have considered many options regarding my condition and resolved that I must forget ahead with my life if not for any thing to fulfil my dreams and the good intentions of my father who was murdered in cold blood by some group of rebel vagabonds. Their gruise was that my late father was suspected to be opposing their political ambitions with his wealth hence he was marked and eventually eliminated. My late father was a very wealthy businessman and contractor and excelled in all his endeavours. I was away at school in Ghana when I got the news of my father's assasination early last year and felt devastated as my father was everything to me.
The assailants capitalised on the rebel activities in my area Bouake to kill my father as they claimed that he didn't want to join their group and fight the government hence he would be killed. The governement was handicapped to do anything since the rebels controlled the town till now.
When I came back, I was advised not to stay in the area since my father has been buried already. However, before now,I am aware of the fund,Six million Four hundred thousand united states dollars.USD($6,400,000) he deposited with a bank here in Cote d'Ivoire which he intended to transfer overseas for investments which he did not achieve following his sudden demise. He made me the next of kin to the fund and had before now explained a whole lot of things concerning the fund to me in the event that he is not able to carry on with the project.
I have tried severally since the sudden death of my father to have access to the fund but was denied as according to the bank officials,the agreement of deposit the bank had with my late father, I should not be allowed to have a direct access to the fund unless I am 24 years age or I should have someone who is older than the stipulated age to interced on my behalf with my consent. This is why I am contacting you now to help me get the fund released and transferred into your account in your country so that you could have me come over to your country to complete my education while you take care of the investment of the fund.
I shall be glad to get your positive response so that I will proceed to giving you the bank contact details to make the contacts and request for the release and transfer of the fund to you.
Awaiting your response, I remain as always,
In His loving arms,
Jennifer.




Anti-fraud resources: