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: "charles geoma" <charlesgeoma259@me.by>
Reply-To: charlesgeoma20@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:20:42 -0500
Subject: PLEASE ASSIST US


*DEAR FRIEND,*

* I HOPE THIS EMAIL IS REACHING YOU IN A GOOD HEALTH? MY NAME IS CHARLES
GEOMA SON OF LATE CHIEF MARK GEOMA, I AM 19YEARS OLD AND I AM FROM SIERRA
LEONE. I FOUND YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS FROM A WEBSITE WHEN I WAS SEARCHING FOR A
RELIABLE FOREIGN PARTNER.*

* FOR SOMETIME NOW I HAVE BEEN GOING THROUGH DIFFICULTIES IN LIFE. IT ALL
STARTED WHEN I LOST MY FATHER. MY FATHER WAS GREAT OIL MERCHANT IN SIERRA
LEONE; HE WAS INTO IMPORT AND EXPORT OF MAINLY CRUDE OIL. HE WAS POISONED BY
HIS BUSINESS COUNTERPARTS OVER A BIG CONTRACT FROM AN OIL FIRM IN MY COUNTRY
SIERRA LEONE THAT WAS AWARDED TO MY LATE FATHER IN SIERRA LEONE.*

* AFTER THE DEATH OF MY FATHER HIS FAMILY MEMBERS MADE AWAY WITH ALL THAT MY
FATHER HAD, AND SENT ME AND MY MOTHER OUT OF MY FATHERS HOUSE, AND SOLD THE
HOUSE, WE COULD NOT FIND THEM AGAIN BECAUSE OF THE WAR THAT HAPPENED IN MY
COUNTRY.*

* FEW MONTHS BACK MY MUM SHOWED ME SOME DOCUMENTS WHICH MY FATHER USED IN
DEPOSITING THE SUM OF $6.8 MILLION DOLLAR IN A BANK IN GHANA, AND HE USED MY
NAME AS THE NEXT OF KIN. I WAS FILLED WIT JOY, AND I TRAVELED TO GHANA WITH
MY MOTHER.*

*
WE GOT TO THE BANK AND PRESENTED THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS THAT WAS GIVEN TO MY
LATE FATHER AT THE TIME HE DEPOSITED THE MONEY WITH THE BANK,THEY ACCEPTED
THAT THE FUNDS ARE IN THE BANK , BUT THEY CAN NOT RELEASE IT TO US, BECAUSE
MY FATHER STATED AT THE TIME OF DEPOSIT THAT THE CONSIGNMENT WILL LEAVE
AFRICA ON TRANSIT TO HIS FOREIGN PARTNER OVERSEAS FOR OTHER PURPOSE. I DID
NOT KNOW THAT MY DAD WAS PLANING OF OPENING A COMPANY ABROAD.*

* WE WERE ADVISED BY THE BANK TO GET A FOREIGN PARTNER WHO IS RELIABLE TO
HELP US RETRIEVE THE FUND FROM THE BANK, SO WE WANT YOU TO BE OUR FOREIGN
PARTNER AND HELP US CONTACT THE BANK, SO THAT THEY CAN TRANSFER THE MONEY OF
MY LATE FATHER TO YOU. MY SELF AND MY MUM HAVE AGREED TO GIVE YOU 25% OF THE
TOTAL FUND. THEN I AND MY MUM CAN COME OVER TO YOUR COUNTRY AND START A
BETTER LIFE.*

* AS I AM WRITING YOU THIS MAIL MY EYES ARE FILLED WITH TEARS, BECAUSE MY
MUM IS VERY SICK AND WE DON'T HAVE ANYBODY HERE IN GHANA, WE ARE LIVING WITH
AN OLD LADY NAMED MRS FELICIA KWESI WHO WORKS AS A GARDNER IN A COMPANY.*

*
I HAVE ALL EVIDENCE AND DOCUMENTS COVERING THE FUNDS IN THE BANK WHICH WAS
GIVEN TO MY LATE FATHER AT THE TIME HE DEPOSITED THE MONEY WITH THE BANK. I
WILL WANT YOU TO GET BACK TO ME WITH YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER WHICH I CAN USE
TO REACH YOU*

*
I AWAIT YOUR URGENT REPLY.*

* GOD BLESS YOU,*

* SINCERELY,*

*CHARLES GEOMA*

Anti-fraud resources: