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: "Mrs Seri Mahmud" <serimahmud@aol.com>
Reply-To: serimahmud1@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 02:17:02 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: VERY CONFIDENTIAL & URGENT

Dearest Friend,

I crave your indulgence at this mail coming from somebody you have not
known before. I decided to do this after praying over this situation. You
should please consider this transaction on its content and not the fact
that you have not known me before. I need not dwell on how I came by your
contact information because there are many such possibilities these days.

I would like to introduce myself as Mrs. Seri Mahmud from the Inland of
Brunei, widow to Late Azahari bin sheikh Mahmud (Former Consular of the
Brunei Embassy in Switzerland)... I have recently been diagnosed of Cancer
of the Pelvic. I am writing from my sick bed in a SPECIALIST HOSPITAL in
Brunei.

There is this Fund US$18.5Million my Husband deposited with a Bank, of
which I am the next of kin. With my Health Condition and because my
husband and I, have no child, I am looking for a credible person to whom I
will pass the right of next of kin.

This is on condition that you will take 25% of the fund for yourself,5%
used for expenses, while you will use the remaining 70% for the widows,
orphans, charities and less privilege people in the society. This is in
fulfillment of the last request of my husband that a substantial part of
the fund be used to carter for the less privileged.

If this condition is acceptable to you, you should contact me immediately
through my private email mrsserimahmud@yahoo.com with your Full Names &
Contact Information, so that I could put you in contact with my lawyer for
necessary action. I cannot predict what will be my fate by the time you
will receive the fund, I will be going in for an operation soon but you
should please ensure that the fund is used as I have described above.

I look forward to your earliest response.

Regards,
Mrs. Seri Mahmud







Anti-fraud resources: