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"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. Sarasaty Soekarso" <mrs.sara1955@msn.com>
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:42:30 -0800 (PST)
Subject: My Dearest One,


My Dearest One,
With peace of our Lord Jesus Christ I write you today, believing that God Almighty who has the power to do of His good pleasures in our lives will give you the grace if you will allow HIM to use you for this divine work.
I am Mrs. Sarasaty Soekarso from Indonesia. I married to late Mr. Soekarso Goyathlay, who worked with Indonesian Embassy in Ivory Coast for Ten years before his death on December 2010 after a brief illness that lasted for only five days.
We were blessed with a daughter (Rosaline) who later died in a motor accident during her graduation ceremony. Before the untimely death of my husband, we were both good Christians and enjoy everything in common. And since after his death I had decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of (US$2.2M) Two Million, Two hundred Thousand United States Dollars in a General Trust Account with Afribail-Finance in Cote d'Ivoire. And this money is still with the account even as I am writing you this mail.
Recently, following my ill health problem where my doctor told me that I may not last for the next four months due to my cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a godly family that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein, which is according to the desire of my late husband before his death.
I will like you to use this fund to help people with cancer problem, orphanages homes and Christian widows. I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this fund and all the people around me are not godly to be trusted with this dream. So I took this stapes of contacting you as I will not want my late husband's sweat to be used by carelessly. I don't want a situation where this fund will be used in an ungodly way.
Please I will not need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health and the presence of friends around me. I don't want any of them to know about this step which I have taken concerning this fund. 
As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you more information.  My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. I am not afraid of death because I know that I fight a good fight of faith and now await reward from our lord. I will need your assurance that you will act accordingly just as I stated here. 
May the good Lord be with you and make His face shine upon your life. 
Mrs. Sarasaty Soekarso

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