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: "edith remedios" <edithremedios@fastwebmail.it>
Reply-To: mrsedithremedios@terra.com
Date: Tue, 8 Jul 2008 20:37:20 +0200
Subject: Please Reply Urgently!


Please Reply Urgently!



Dearest one In Christ,

I am contacting you to let you know my desire to establish a charity
foundation in your country with this sum US$: 3.500.000 (three million five
hundred thousand US Dollars) which I inherited from my late husband (Dr
Obed Remedios)



It is my desire to see that this money is invested to any organization of
your choice in your country and distributed each year among the charity
organizations, motherless baby's home, mosques, churches, Schools,
supporting destitute aged men and women or whatever you may have in mind
that will be to the benefit of the less fortunate.



I took this decision because I was raised from a motherless baby's home and
presently, I'm hospitalized here in (London) where I am undergoing treatment
for my up coming breast cancer surgery operation.



Please reply as soon as possible to confirming your acceptance to claim the
deposit on my behalf so that I will give you all the relevant information
that will authorise the release and transfer of the money to you as my duly
assigned representative.



Thank you in advance for your consideration and I hope to hear from you
urgently.

Regards,

Mrs Edith Remedios.

Anti-fraud resources: