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: Godwin Temba <godwintemba1@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: godwintembaa@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2010 02:33:25 -0800 (PST)
Subject: INVITATION FOR PARTNERSHIP



MR, GODWIN TEMBA         
FROM SOUTH AFRICA
 
Attn Sir/Madam; 
                         
                INVITATION FOR PARTNERSHIP
 
My mane is Mr. GODWIN, the eldest son of Mr. DOUGLAS.TEMBA of Zimbabwe . I got your contact address through South Africa online.
 
During the current war against the farmers in Zimbabwe from the support of our president, Robert Mugabe to claim all the white-owned farms to his party members and his followers, he ordered all the white farmers to surrender all their farms to his party member sand his followers.
 
My father was one of the best farmers in our country and because he did not support mugabes ideas, mugabes supporters invaded my fathers farm and burnt everything in the farm, killing my father and made away a lot of items in my fathers farm.
 
Before his death, my father had deposited with one Security Company in Durban (KZN) South Africa the sum of US$18.5 (EIGHT MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND, UNITED STATES DOLLARS). After the death of my father, we decided to move the money from the republic of South Africa where he had deposited the money in the security company as valuable.
 
So I decided to contact overseas firms and individuals that will assist me to move this money out of South Africa because, as asylum seekers, we are not allowed to operate any bank account within South Africa .
 
We have agreed to offer 20% of the total sum for your assistance, 10% will mapped out any expenses that may be incurred in the course of this transaction and 70% will be for me and my family to invest in your country.
 
All I want you to do is to send me your personal phone and fax number for easy communication.
 
Note that this transaction is 100% risk free and absolutely confidential.
 
Thanks
Best regard
Mr. Godwin Temba



Anti-fraud resources: