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: STELLA PATRICK <stellapatricia1@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Sep 2011 08:37:19 -0700
Subject: HELP THE LESS PRIVILEGED IN THE SOCIETY

Dear Friend,

I am Mrs Stella Patrick from Britain,I am 48 years old,i am suffering from a
long time cancer of the breast,from all indication my conditions is really
deteriorating and it is quite obvious that i can't work or do any stressful
thing, according to my doctors they have advised me that i may not live for
a long time,this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage.
I was brought up from a motherless babies home was married to my late
husband for twenty years without a child ,My Husband (Roberto Patrick) died
in a fatal motor accident Before his death we were true Christians.

Since his death I decided not to re-marry,I sold all my inherited belongings
and deposited all the sum of $2.6million dollars with a Security Firm in
UNITED KINGDOM, of which they don't know the content of the luggage.They
only know that i have a family valuables in the luggage .

Presently this money is still with them and the management just wrote me as
the true owner to come forward to receive my luggage for keeping it so long
will attract a demur age fees as the security fees paid by me has expired or
rather issue a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my
behalf since I can not come over because of my illness or they get it
confiscated.

So instead of getting it confiscated i rather have someone whom i can trust
to receive the funds and utilize it according to my wishes.And the best part
of it is ,The security company told me in the later-that they can have the
luggage delivered to my approved next of kin in his house if within UK or
out side United kingdom.

Presently, I'm with my laptop in a hospital in Frankfurt Germany where I
have been undergoing treatment for my sickness . 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 that this money is invested/donated to any
organization/business of your choice and distributed each year among the
charity organization,E.g the poor homes,the motherless babies home where i
came from,the deaf homes,and churches etc .

All i seek for is a God fearing person,who will carry out my-last wishes and
as soon as I receive your reply I shall proceed with further arrangements of
how the company will deliver the luggage to you.All i need from you a
confidential assurance that the funds when received by you will be used for
the said purpose.

Waiting for your reply.

Yours in GOD,
Mrs Stella Patrick

Anti-fraud resources: