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: muh_sani_a <muh_sani_a1@gazeta.pl>
Reply-To: muh_sani_a2@hotmail.co.uk
Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:49:11 -0700
Subject: FROM ABACHA'S FAMILY


Dear Friend,

May I briefly introduce myself to you? I am Muhammed Sani Abacha, son of the
late Nigerian Head of State, General Sani Abacha who died on the 8th of June
1998. Ever since the death of my father, my family has been facing a lot of
problems mostly with the present Civilian Government. Consequently, I have
been under torture in detention for a sin I did not commit and made a lot of
confessions as regards valuables, money inclusive that of my late father
entrusted in my hand for safe-keeping. The last was my confession on the
Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars cash my late father gave me for
safekeeping. However, the Federal Government had claimed all the assets I
mentioned when I was under detention, and presently they have seized my
passport to travel outside the country, which is the reason I am making
this contact to you.

My main reason and purposes of writing you is this, I know there is a lot
of fraud stars writing and scamming people, some are using the name of my
family. But I am writing you in good faith, and I want you to carefully go
through this massage and give me a good reply on your intentions towards the
content of this email.

I am coming out of 2011 Presidential Election, my vision is to occupy that
seat of my father as the President of this country as our current President
has been under medical attention due to numerous heart failures, and
however, he accepted to reign as the President of this Country for just one
tenure. I do not have money at hand now neither am I able to travel outside
the country, but, I have assets that worth over Five Billion united states
which I have seek your kind assistance to make you the beneficiary of the
above mentioned fund which some are in banks overseas and security
companies, I want you to stand as my Foreign Presidential Sponsor which is
after the assets are released to you, but before we should proceed, I would
want you to visit me here, so to see you face to face before we proceed, I
want to start my Presidential campaign by alerting the shakers and movers in
Nigerian politics, therefore, I need your good reply to advise you more of
my visions over this note. I will make you the beneficiary of the assets by
transferring all the documentations of deposit and Change of Ownership which
I will authorize my Lawyer to work on your behalf, please be informed that I
got your information from the director, chamber of commerce when I was
looking for a trustworthy person to work with, and I promise you that this
issue would be given an urgent attention as soon as there is an interest
from you to work with me. I wait to hear from you.

Best regards
Muhammed Sani Abacha.

muh_sani_2@hotmail.co.uk

Anti-fraud resources: