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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: "Col. Greville Kenneth" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <colkenneth36@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 23:51:57 +0100
Subject: Hello.

Hello,

Good day and compliments, I know this letter will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine my future and continued existence.

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Colonel Greville Kenneth, US Army serving in the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq. I am desperately in need of assistance and I have summoned up courage to contact you. I am presently in Iraq and I found your contact particulars in an address journal, Obama sent most of us home and left only very few soldiers here for some reasons. I do not know when I will leave Iraq.


In 2003 My men and I found over $600 million in Saddam Hussein's hideout in Baghdad, we sent some back to the Iraq government after counting it in a classified location but we also kept some behind for ourselves. This is no stolen money and there are no dangers involved.

Some money in various currencies was discovered and concealed in barrels with piles of weapons and ammunition at a location near one of Saddam Hussein’s old Presidential Palaces during a rescue operation and it was agreed by all party present that some of the money be shared amongst us.

You can view the link Below to verify my statement

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm

This might appear as an illegal thing to do but I tell you what? No compensation could make up for the risks we have taken with our lives in this hellhole. The above figure was given to me as my share and to conceal this kind of money became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working with the UN here (his office enjoys some immunity)I will able to get the package out to a safe location entirely out of trouble spot. He does not know the real contents of the package as he believes that it belongs to an American who died in an air raid, who before
giving up trusted me to hand over the package to his close relative.

I have now found a secured way of getting the package out of Iraq for you to pick up and your share will be 20% of the money. I do not know for how long I will remain here, as I have been lucky to survive 2 suicide bomb attacks by Pure Divine intervention.

This and other reasons put into consideration have prompted me to reach out for help. If it might be of interest to you then endeavor to contact me and we would work out the necessary formalities but I pray that you are discreet about this mutually benefiting relationship. Your Immediate Response would go a long way. Reply me through my
private email: colkenneth36@aol.com

Respectfully,
Col. Greville Kenneth

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