joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
 Free trial for 30 days
   jwSpamSpy
Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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:

Fraud email example:

From: "Bente Meklenborg" (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 18:27:01 +0100
Subject: my very last wish

Attention:Sir/ Madam


My contribution to the needy

This mail might come to you as surprise and the temptation to ignore as not being real could come into your mind but please, consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility.

My names are Bente Meklenborg I,m a 68 years elderly woman. I am DANE but married to a Briton .My husband and two children died in a car accident six years ago. Before this happened my business and concern for making money was all I lived for.I never really cared about other values in life. But since the loss of my family, I have found a new desire to assist the helpless families.

I have been helping orphans in orphanage/ motherless homes. I have donated some money to orphans in Sudan, South south Africa, Cameroon,Brazil,Spain, Austria,Germany and some Asian countries.Before I became ill,I kept $5 Million in along-term deposit account in a bank .Presently, I,m in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer.

I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told me that I have only a few months to live.It is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations,as relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness, I cannot live with the
agony of entrusting this huge responsibility to any of them.Please, I beg you for the sake of humanity to help me collect the deposit and the interest accrued from the company and distributes it amongst charity organizations.

I took this decision, before I rest in peace and very hopeful that you as God fearing person will help me achieve this objective even if I am no more.As soon as I receive your reply I will issue you with a letter of authority as the new beneficiary of my fund but you have to promise me that you would make claim of this fund and make good use of the fund. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein and you can link me on my email.

Waiting for your reply.

Yours sincerely,
Bente Meklenborg

Anti-fraud resources: