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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: "Chatwitslash Savimbi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gel12345678911@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 00:10:08 -0000
Subject: From My Family

Dear Friend,

I got your contact through a friend of yours and decided to contact you for assistance. I am the son of Jonas Savimbi, the rebel leader in Angola who was shot dead on the 25th of February 2002, by the opposing Angolan Army.

Before the death of my father, he deposited the sum of Fourteen million eight hundred thousand dollars ($14,800,000.00) in a Storage company in London. My father handed all the legal documents for the deposit to the family attorney (Prof.Ahamed Usman Awadi) in trust and for safe keeping for the family.

Also, after the death of my father, my family and I fled to South Africa where we are currently living, before that take a look at this http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1839000/1839252.stm

So, we want you to help us make claims of this fund ($14.8M) from the Storage Company in London as my family beneficiary and transfer the money to your account or any account of your choice for that matter before I and my family can get Visas to fly down to your country for mutual sharing of the money.

My family has agreed to give you 30% for your anticipated assistance and 60% would be for us (my family) and the remaining 10%would be set aside for any expenses that we may incure during the course of this transaction. My family share of 60% would be invested in your country in any profitable business proposed by you.

We have never met, but I want to trust you and please do not let my family down by sitting on this money when it finally gets into your account.

As a result of the present predicament of my family exiled in South Africa, you should contact my family attorney resident in London, tell my family attorney who is in full control of this transaction that you got a mail from Chatwitslash Savimbi instructing you to contact him on this subject matter.

Please, furnish him with your direct Telephone, Mobile and Fax Numbers for easier communication; he will furnish you with more details and all necessary documentations like Certificate of Deposit etc.

Please, treat this as Confidential.

Best Regards,

Chatwitslash Savimbi

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