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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: Rachael Koume <rachi.79@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <rachael.koume@yahoo.fr>
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2007 12:01:57 +0000
Subject: Dearest




Dearest,With due respect and trust, permit me to inform you ofmy desire of going into a good relationship with you.l am Miss Racheal Koume, the only daughter of lateMr. Balla Koume. My father was an engineer and acontractor with the Government of Cote D'Ivoire. Hewas mysteriously poisoned to death by his businessassociates over a row of a contract award in theAgricultural ministry of our country. I was told thatmy mother died few hours after giving birth to me dueto over bleeding, I never knew her.Before the death of my father in a hospital here inAbidjan, he secretly called me on his bedside. When Isat down to listen to him, he started cryingcomplaining that I am too young to be manage my life,and there is no body to take care of me again as ayoung girl. After weeping, He narrated to me how hedeposited a trunk box containing the sum ofUS$8.000.000 (Eight Million United States Dollars) ina security company as valuable family items here inour country because there was serious political crisisthen, and the banks were under attack by the rebelforces. He told me that he used my name as his onlydaughter as his next of kin in deposit of the box. Healso explained to me that it was because of thiswealth that he was poisoned by his businessassociates, that l should seek for a God fearingforeign partner in a country of my choice where l willtransfer this money and use it for proper investmentpurpose.For this reason, I seek your assistance to serve as myguardian and help me in the retrieval of this depositfrom the security company and to aid me in theinvestment of the money in your country. I alsorequire you assistance to continue my education inyour country because I am only 18yrs old and astudent.Please, l am willing to offer you 20% of the totalsum as compensation for assisting me in this regard.Hoping to hearing from you soonest.May God bless you as you extend your helping hand tome.Yours Sincerely.Miss Racheal Koume,
_________________________________________________________________
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