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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: "Williams Alfonso" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alflda@kimo.com>
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2010 02:17:03 +0100
Subject: hello

Dear Sir

Could you please consider helping me and my little sister to relocate to your country? My name is Alfonso Williams and my Sister name Linda. We want you to assist us transfer and invest our inheritance to your country. We got your contact address through our late father's international business directory and we decided to contact you to seek for your kind help in assisting us see to the bank's requirement and receive the money in your safe bank account in 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 totaling $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 Cote d'Ivoire.

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 are right now in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire and 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 stand as our guardian so that we can have the money released to you and also bring us over to your country to continue our college education and then after make arrangement for a good business investment which you will invest the money on our behalf. We are willing to give you any amount which you will wish to have as percentage after receiving the money in your safe bank account. If you can help us, 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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