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: "afarouk williams" <williams.suzan01@gala.net>
Reply-To: williams.suzan_family@yahoo.fr
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2008 05:27:22 +0000
Subject: From Willams and Suzan Alfarouk.

From Willams and Suzan Alfarouk.Dearest one,Greetings in the name of God. We are Willams and suzan Alfarouk from SierraLeone.I am writing you from Rep of Cote d'Ivoire where we Have been takingrefuge after the brutal war and Murder of our parents by the rebels duringthe renewed Fighting in our country Sierra Leone. Because of the war ourlate Father sold his shipping company and took us to a nearby country Coted'Ivoire where he deposited US$18, 300,000.00 Million(Eigtheen MillionThree Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) in his foreign account withone of the bank here in Cote d'Ivoire.Please,we have prayed beforecontacting you with the trust in God that you will be of help to me and mySister.We are seeking for your assistance to transfer this money to youraccount for a good investment project in your country and also relocate toyour country with my younger sister suzan to further our study.We arewilling to offer you 15% of the total sum for Your assistance.Please foryour good information this transaction Is 100% risk free and in no wayconnected with any illegal transaction, Please help us to get out of thisterrible situation and our Almighty God will bless you. please kindly getback to us through our private phone +225 06679898 for more discussion.Best RegardsWillams and Suzan Alfarouk

Anti-fraud resources: