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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Albert Mills" <sameeransari@att.net>
Reply-To: <email.phil22@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2011 04:38:50 +0100
Subject: PLEASE HELP THE NEEDY..

Greetings,
 
Pardon me for not having the pleasure of knowing your mindset before making you this offer because I know it must come to you as a surprise and it is utterly confidential and genuine by virtue of its nature. I wish to solicit your assistance in a funds transfer deal involving US$ 5.850M.This fund has been stashed out of the excess profit made last year by my branch office in which I am the manager. I have already submitted an approved end-of-the-year report for the year 2009 to my head office here in Accra-Ghana and they will never know of this excess.
 
I have since then, placed these funds on a Non-Investment Account without a beneficiary. Could you perhaps be able to receive these funds under legal claims then I will fill you in and configure your name on our database as holder of the Non-Investment Account. I will then guide you on how to apply to my head office for the Account Closure/bank-to-bank remittance of the funds to your designated bank account. I will appreciate for fewer questions asked and your participation will be 30% of the total money.
 
If you concur with this proposal, I intend for you to retain 30% of the funds while 70% shall be for me. There are practically no risks involved, the transaction will be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law. Your major role would be to provide an existing account or open an account with zero balance where the funds will be transferred and stand as the original depositor of this fund in our bank.
 
At this juncture, I wish to tell you what prompted me to package this deal. My mother has leukemia, a disease of the blood, and she needs a bone marrow transplant or she will die. I want this transplanting to be done in any good hospital in your Country, if there is one. Once this fund is transferred into your account, I wills take my annual leave and come over with my ailing mother and my wife so that you can help put us through with hospital activities. Thanks for your understanding. Remain blessed and kindly forward your response to me as soon as you can.
 
With Regards,
 
Albert Mills.

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