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: Major Henry Sanders <sanders-1234@msn.com>
Reply-To: <henry_sanders@cantv.net>
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 04:14:49 +0000
Subject: BENEFICIAL ASSISTANCE




My name is Major Henry Sanders. I am an American soldier serving in
the military with a very desperate need for assistance. I found your contact in
an address journal. I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of
fifteen Million United States Dollars to you as far as I can be assured that my
share will be safe in your care until I complete my service here which will be
soon because we left Iraqi cities on 30th June and went to military bases. This
is not a stolen money and there is no danger
involved.


SOURCE OF MONEY:
Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels
at a farmhouse near one of Saddam old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue
operation, and it was agreed by Staff Sgt Kenneth Buff and I that some part of
this money be shared between us before informing anybody about it. This was
quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No compensation could make up
for the risk we had taken with our lives in that hell hole of which my
brother-in-law was killed by a road side bomb and just on the eve of the
handover of the cities to Iraqi soldiers four American soldiers in my squad were
killed, we have gone through hell here.

The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this
kind of money became a problem for me. With the help of a British contact
working here and his office enjoy some immunity I was able to get the package
out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real
contents of the package and believes that it belongs to a British /American
medical doctor who died in a raid here in Iraq . And before giving up trusted me
to hand over the package to his Family in United States .

I have now
found a much secured way of getting the package out of Iraq . I will discuss
this with you when I am sure that you are willing to assist me. I want you to
tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance. One
passionate appeal, please don't discuss this matter with anybody should you have
any reason to reject this offer, please and please destroy this message as any
leakage of this information will be too bad for us and we are almost rounding up
our service here.

I have been shot, wounded and survived two suicide
bomb attacks by the special grace of God, this and other reasons I will mention
later has prompted me to reach out for help, I honestly want this matter to be
resolved immediately.

Please contact me as soon as possible with the
following details via my alternative email address : henry_sanders@cantv.net

Full Name:
Full
Address:
Tel/cell numbers:
Occupation:
God Bless you as I look forward to your positive
response.

Truly yours,
Major Henry Sanders.

Anti-fraud resources: