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: HELEN DAVIES <helen.davies1@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: mshelendavies@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:26:00 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Greetings


Greetings
 
Dear in Christ,
 
Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, I am Mrs Helen Davies from Kuwait. I am married to Mr. Richard Davies who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2007. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.
 
Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of US$1.5million dollars in a Bank. Presently, this money is still in bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that my condition needs prayer only due to cancer problem, the one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness.
 
Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a charity organization or god fearing somebody that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want these funds to be use for orphanages, school and church, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained. The Bible made us to understand that "Blessed is the hand that giveth"I took this decision because I don't have any child. 
 
I don't want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision.  I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. He will fight my case and I shall hold my peace. I don't need any telephone communication in this regard as my health did not permit me to answer call but I know with God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I will give you the information’s with contact of the Bank.
  
Contact me on this email. Delay in your reply will permit me to look for another person for this same purpose. Waiting for your reply.
Remain blessed in the Lord.
 
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Helen
 
 

Anti-fraud resources: