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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: "Jr" <kellycrawford_jr@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 13:24:27 -0800
Subject: PLEASED READ

Good Day,

How are you and your family today? I hope that you are all okay? I found
information about you and i decided to contact you for an important
assistance. I am Kelly Crawford a citizen of Zimbabwe, but I am contacting
you outside WEST AFRICA where I am now seeking political asylum. I am the
only son of Mac Crawford, a wealthy farmer and senior politician with the
opposition political party in my country, Movement for Democratic Change
[MDC]. Our wicked President murdered my father; I fled my country because I
have become his next target to eliminate. My father was a fighter for
Justice and a moving force in the MDC, a party wanting to end the several
years of brutal dictatorship government of President Robert Mug Abe’s. You
will read more stories about President Mug Abe’s brutal acts by visiting
these web sites;

(1) http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/afric a/jan-june00/zimbabwe_4-21a.html
(2) http://www.rte.ie/news/2000/0418/zim babwe.html

My father was accused of Treason and also assisting the White farmers in
fighting the government. Few weeks after his arrest, he was reported dead.
The government claimed he died of heart attack and his body was never seen
for proper autopsy, they buried him in the government cemetery. My father's
associate Mr. Martin Olds a White farmer from Britain assisted me in
fighting my father's death through the Court and media; the government saw
us as a big treat to them and decided to eliminate us. Mr. Olds was attacked
and murdered in his house, but fortunately, before they came looking for me,
I received the news and I had to flee through the border to near by country
in WEST AFRICA to save my life. My arrival here still remains like a miracle
to me. Here, are my reasons for contacting you, I am having a huge sum of
money total sum of $16,000,000. (Sixteen million American Dollars) was
secretly lodge with the Finance Firm in Europe.

My father kept this money in a trunk box and was tag family treasures and
could not bank them, because of the situation in my country. My father’s
business, farms and banks account were seized by the government before his
arrest and murder. He told me everything concerning the funds while he was
still in detention and every document as regards the deposit was handed over
to me by his attorney as instructed by my father. I need your assistance in
securing the funds there in your country, so that I can arrange on how to
come over to your country to invest with the fund I am willing to offer you
30% of the $16,000,000. (Sixteen Million United State Dollars), I looking
for your assistance, Please let me know if you can assist me, so that I can
give you more details on how we shall proceed. As I wait for your urgent
response, please treat this information as top secret. And contact me
through my safe mail box: kellycrawford_jr@myway.com

Regards,
Kelly Crawford.







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