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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. Maria Omar Shatwan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <omrs.maria@yahoo.com.mx>
Date: Sat, 1 Jun 2013 11:55:03 +0200
Subject: Important Email

Mrs. Maria Omar Shatwan
Flat 401 Duncan Boulevard
42 Church Street
Turffontein
Johannesburg 2001
South Africa

Good day,

You may be surprised to receive this letter from me since you do not know me personally; I am Mrs. Maria Omar Shatwan, the wife of Late Dr. Omar Fathi Bin Shatwan who was murdered in the Rebel dispute during Lt Col. Muammar Gadaffi dictatorship. I got your contact through world network online; hence I decided to write to you.

Before the death of my husband, he had taken my son Mr. Hassan Mohammed Shatwan to the Republic of South Africa to deposit the sum of US$36,000,000,00 (Thirty Six Million United States Dollars) in one of the private security / finance company as if he foresaw the looming danger in Libya. This money was deposited in a safe box as a family property.

This money was meant for the purchase of advance ammunition and sophisticated weapons to fight the veteran rebels and militants in Libya. This crisis came when Libyan President Lt. Col. Muammar Gadaffi introduced War Act Reform which wholly affected all the Libyans citizens and foreigners, and this resulted to the killing and mob action by Libyan war veterans and some lunatics in the society. In fact, a lot of people were killed because of this Lt. Col. Muammar Gadaffi regime dictatorship which my husband was one of the victims who died.

It is against this background that I and my son Mr. Hassan Mohammed Shatwan decided to migrate to the republic of South Africa to find a way to transfer my husband’s money to foreign account since the law of South Africa prohibit a refugee (asylum seeker) to open any bank account or to be involved in any financial transaction throughout the territorial zone South Africa. I am saddle with the responsibility of seeking a genuine foreign partner who can assist my son with your personal/company's account where this money could be transferred without the knowledge of the interim government who are bent from taking everything we had.

The South African government seems to be playing along with them. I am faced with the dilemma of investing this amount of money in South Africa for fear of going through the same experience in future since both countries have similar political history. Moreover, the South African Foreign Exchange policy does not allow such investment as an asylum seeker.

As a person, whom I want to entrust my future and of my family’s in his hands, I must let you know that this transaction is risk free and upon acceptance of this proposal you are advised to contact me on my direct email; (omrs.maria@yahoo.com.mx) for more details of the transaction while I implore you to maintain the absolute secrecy required in this transaction.

I have two options for you; you can choose to have certain percentage of the money for nominating your account for this transaction or you can go into partnership with us for the proper profitable investment of the money in your country. Whichever option you choose, feel free to notify me I have also mapped out 5% of this money for all kinds of expenses incurred during the process of this transaction.

If you do not prefer a partnership I am willing to give you 25% of the money while the remaining 70% will be for my investment in your country.

Best Regards,

Mrs. Maria Omar Shatwan
(For the family)
omrs.maria@yahoo.com.mx

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