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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: From Alfonso and Linda <alfiba@hotmail.fr>
Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2009 10:06:24 -0200
Subject: Hello
Hello
Could you please consider to help me and my little sister to
relocate us to your country. My name is Alfonso Williams and my Sister name
Linda. We want to relocate our only inheritance to your country for
investment and at the same time further our education. We got your contact
address through our late fathers international business directory and we
decided to contact you to seek for your kind assistance in helping us
relocate us and our inheritance to your country. We lost our parents few
years ago. Our father and his half brother were murdered by assailants
during a midnight rebel shoot out in our country Sierra Leone. Our mother
sustained a very severe bullet injury the same night which resulted to her
untimely death four days after she was rushed down to a private hospital.
Shortly before the unfortunate incident, my father had informed me about an
important business deal he had executed with some of his colleagues in the
office. He told me that he diverted some money totalling $8,300.000 which
they realized from the sale of gold and diamonds in the black market. He
told me that he deposited the money in the bank in Abidjan Coted'Ivoire
west Africa. Now we want to finally relocate to your country with this
money so that we can start a new life and further our education. We have
visited the bank where our father deposited the money and identified
ourselves properly and informed them about the sad fate our father had
suffered. We will need your help in the following ways, to help us provide
your safe bank account and to help us stand as our guardian over this money
before the bank so that they will release and transfer the money to you and
also help us bring us over to your country and secure a good college for me
andmy little sister so that we can continue our college education and also
make arrangement for a good business investment which you will invest with
the money on our behalf. We are willing to give you any amount which you
will wish to have after receiving the money in your safe bank account. If
you can help us do this, we will need your contact to present to the bank
as our guardian so that the bank will contact you. We hope to hear from you
soon.
Thank you and May God bless you and your family.
Yours
Sincerely
Alfonso and Linda
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