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.Margaret Bennett" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wri589@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:44:03 -0500
Subject: Peace Be with you ,Reply as soon as possible.

Greeting in the Name of God
I am  Mrs.Margaret  Bennett ,A widow to the Late Mr. Keneth Bennett, I am
65 yrs old,I am a new Christian convert working as a missionary in West Africa before
I Was urgently transfer to my home country here in United Kingdom, am suffering
From long time cancer of the breast, from all indication my condition is really
Deteriorating and it's quite obvious that I won't live more than twoMonths,
According to my doctors. This is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very
bad stage.My late husband was killed during the U.S raid against terrorism in
Afghanistan,and during the period of our marriage we had a 23 yrs old son whoDied
in an auto crash three years ago. My late husband was very wealthy and after his
death I inherited all his business and wealth.The doctor has advice me that I may
not live for more than two months, so I now decided to divide the part of this
wealth, to contribute to the development of the church in Africa, America, Asia
and also in Europe.I prayed over it, and I am willing to donate the sum of Five
Million Great Britain pounds(5,000,000.00 GP) to the less privileged and orphanage
Home.
God Has directed me to you and I wont you to use this funds to work for God,
Please I want you to note that this fund is lying in a Bank in West Africa And upon
my instruction,my Bank will proceed with there transfer Procedures once they get some
vitals information from you as my next Beneficiary.
Lastly, I honestly pray that this money when transferred will be used for thesaid
purpose, because I have come to find out that wealth acquisition without Christ is
vanity. May the Grace of our Lord Jesus the love of God and the Fellowship of God be
with you and your family. I await your urgent reply Please kindly get back to me if you
are willing to help for further details.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs.Margaret  Bennett
 

Anti-fraud resources: