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. Laurie Weir" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <01982769@acnrep.com>
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 03:54:31 -0500
Subject: Management

Hello Friend,

I am Mrs Laurie Weir from Dublin Ireland Presently in a specialist Hospital in the UK. Please bear with me for the unsolicited email contact. I am 69 years old, sufferring from a long time cancer. My conditions is deteriorating and from all indication it is quite obvious that I may not live beyond the next three months according to my medical oncologist.

I was brought up from a motherless babies home and was married to late Richard Weir who worked with Texaco Oil Company in Spain before his suden death out of madrid train bomb attack in 2004. My Husband and I were married for years without any child and since his death I could not re-marry becuase of my love for him. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of Twenty Five Million In American Currency with one of the Financial institutions in Spain.

However, the management of bank having reviewed my condition just wrote me as the inheritor to come forward to receive the money or rather Issue a letter of authorisation to any member of my family or someone trustworthy to receive it on my behalf. I am presently in a hospital where I have been undergoing treatment for Cancer. I have since lost my ability to talk and my medical oncologist have advised that I have only a few months to live.

I have preferred to donate this fund to a God fearing Philanthropist who would use the funds to the betterment of the less privileged. It is my wish to see at most 70% of this money donated to the less priviledged. To this effect, I now seek for your consent to present you to the bank as the inheritor so that the proceeds of this deposit can be paid to you.

All I need is an honest and God fearing person, who is willing to carry out my wishes and making sure the funds are not confiscated by the bank out of their selfish interest, with a confidential assurance that the funds when recieved, would be used accordingly and for the purpose (charity).

I await your urgent reply.

Your sincerely,
Mrs. Laurie weir

Anti-fraud resources: