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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: From Benjamin Mataruse <benja1n@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: <benjamatu1@centrum.sk>
Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 17:15:31 +0200
Subject: To You Dear Beloved.



Dear Good Day, We knew is wrong to contact you through this means but we are desperate and our present condition now is too frustrating, that was why we use this medium to fasting up our request. I am Benjamin Peter Mataruse, the son of the late asassinated senator, Peter Mataruse of zimbabwe. I am presently in abidjan, capital city of Cote D'Ivoire(Ivory Coast )in west sfrica with my junior sister, Sonia Mataruse, for the past two months now. We want you to assist us provide a bank account either new or old ,so that the bank here will transfer our father's money into your account in your country and also take me and my sister out of this country. Why we contacted you is that we went to the bank to withdraw this money since our late father use my name as the next of kin to the deposit, but were told by the bank director that my late father made an agreement with them that i have to get to the age of 25yrs before i can make claim of the money or alternatively i should provide a guardian who can make the claim on my behalf and that was why i contacted you. The amount involved is USD$7,000,000.000 (Seven Million United States Dollars) and We will be glad to offer you 15% percent of the total sum for assisting us. We beg for the confidentiality of this message as we also wait for your urgent reply. Yours sincerelyBenjamin and Sonia Mataruse.
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Anti-fraud resources: