|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: <erictimothy2010@centrum.cz>
Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2011 00:02:12 +0100
Subject: Greetings to you
 Dear
Warm greetings to you and your family in the name of our lord Jesus Christ. I am Eric Timothy the only son of late Mr and Mrs Johnson Timothy. My father was a very wealthy Rubber plantation merchant and the managing director of J & T rubber plantation farm in Freetown, the economic capital city of Sierra-Leone, my father was poisoned to death by his business associates on one of their outings on a business trip.
My mother died when I was a baby and since then my father took me and my only kid sister (Joy) so special. Before the death of my father on November 2009 in a private hospital here in Abidjan, he secretly called me on his bed side and told me that he has the sum of ($12.500,000) left in fixed / suspense account in one of the prime bank .
He also explained to me that it was because of this wealth that he was poisoned by his business associates. That I should seek for a foreign partner in a country of my choice where I will transfer this money and use it for investment purpose such as real estate management or hotel management.
I am willing to offer you 25% of the total sum as compensation for your effort/input after the transfer of this fund into your account overseas.
Thank you for your signify interest to assist me and my sister. Hoping to hear from you soon. May God bless you and preserve our friendship in good faith.
Best Regards,
Eric Timothy
|
Anti-fraud resources:
