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: "William Johnson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wcaptji01@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2012 07:26:43 -0500
Subject: Your kind assistance is urgently needed

Dear Friend,
 
 
With trust, I faithfully write to you as i know this mail will definitely come
to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through my
mail carefully as the decision you make will go a long way to determine the
future of my business prospect with you.
 
Meanwhile let me briefly introduce myself to you as I write to you this email
with a high sense of sincerity, trust and as my confidant. I am Captain William
Johnson from the Praire State in Southern Illinois. I am a commander of
the Special N.A.T.O coalition force with the United Nation troops in
Afghanistan; we are in Afghanistan on war against terrorist and Taliban’s
operation. I am serving currently in a remote Village in Bamyan province the
bustling capital Kabul (CBC’s Doc Zone).
 
Work has been so risky no doubt, and challenging as sometimes, we are faced
head with armed insurgent where we lose some soldiers during confrontation. I
have had my own share of losses as I lost a friend whom I have known for 12
years.
 
On the 6th day of July 2012, at about 1100hrs during one of our patrol
routine along Kandahar, a suburb few kilometers from Kunduz, we got an Intel
about some Taliban members camping in Marzar Sharif. We invaded the place and
after hours of gun battle, we captured three (3) of the Taliban terrorists
members,(7) were injured during the battle and In the process of torture they
confessed they were Taliban members that worked under Abu Baqir a Taliban sub-
commander and al-Qaida group leader who was killed by Us soldiers in an
airstrike in kunduz Afghanistan's northern Province. They took us to their cave
in Marzar Sharif which also serve as their camp, there we discovered five (5)
metal boxes piled on top one another which were locked with a padlock each.
While we tried to force the box open, to my greatest surprise I discovered
several guns, armor and amongst, two boxes contained bullets, one filled with
hard drugs and the other two to my amazement contained some US Dollars which
amounted to $23.5M after I and two of my colleagues counted them for several
hours. I believed that the boxes are owned or are linked to the Al Qaeda and
Adman al-Zawahiri.
 
Having told you this as my confidant, it will be my delight and pleasure if
you will assist me towards actualizing my dream with this development.
Unanimously, we agreed to keep this as a secret among ourselves, and agreed to
get the money out of the country for ourselves but first, we have hidden the
two boxes that contain the US dollars in a safe and untraced location already.
Now, am DESPERATELY in need of a “RELIABLE and TRUSTWORTHY” person who would
receive, secure and safe guard these box containing the US dollars for me until
my assignment elapses.
 
I am aware of what your thoughts would be next but don’t conclude that yet
because I am willing to guard and give you every logistics plans to follow in
order to have hitched free in this deal. Also, I am not from any authority that
would want to set you up just that I need your help and I assure you that this
deal is 100% risk free.
 
My proposal to you is, if you are willing to help me receive the boxes (Money)
you will be entitled to 20% of this fund in the end; Once again, I confide
strictly in you and appeal that you keep this topmost secret so that we do not
lose our lives.
 
Please kindly get back to me on my private email address wicvijohnson@gmail.com
With the assurances of my gratitude and compliance to the terms, I remain;
 
Very sincerely,
Capt.William Johnson

Anti-fraud resources: