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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: sara david <sar_david888@hotmail.fr>
Date: Sun, 11 May 2014 07:11:05 +0000
Subject: Dear Lovely One,


Dear Lovely One,

I
am writing to seek your partnership in the investment of my inheritance
fund USD$7.5M from my late father who died mysteriously last year:. It
was very evident that he was poisoned to death. In my culture, when a
man dies, if he does not have a male child, the brothers shares his
property leaving both the wife and the daughters empty handed including
the house they live in. This is the exact case with me as I am the only
daughter of my father. I lost my mother when I was barely a year old and
my father refused to re-marry another wife because he felt solely
responsible for my mother's death.

This is so because he
concentrated much on his businesses that he rarely pays attention to
domestic affairs. He was always travelling taking care of his businesses
that he did not notice when my mother took ill. He thought it was a
minor illness and was ignorant of this. My mother on her own resorted to
self-medication. It was not until the illness degenerated that my
father took my mother to hospital where she was diagnosed to find out
that hypatitis had eaten deep into her blood stream. She didn't last
long before she died. This happened when I was barely a year old. Based
on this, my father could not forgive himself easily because of it and
said he was responsible for her death as he could have saved her if only
he had paid attention to the things at home rather than concentrating
much on his businesses.

Despite all entreaties by friends and
relatives, he refused to remarry but ensured that I had everything that I
wanted. It was as a result of this that he made me the next of kin to
his fund deposit with the bank and stated that in the event of any
eventuality, I should have a direct access to the
fund only when I am 24 years of age otherwise, I should have a
guardian/partner intercede on my behalf for the release of the funds to
me.
Unfortunately, he died late last year and I am 21 years of age
currently. This is why I have contacted you to serve as a guardian to me
and as my foreign partner for the investment of the fund overseas My
uncles does not know about the fund because they had already taken my
father's houses and other properties because I am a girl and they said I
do not have rights for any property. They have requested to have
my father's bank papers but I simply told them that I do not know where he kept them.

The
younger brother took the house in the village while the houses in the
town were sold out they shared the proceed they got from the sale. Right
now, I am with a friend of mine and do sincerely want to travel out of
my country. This can only happen when I have secured the release and
transfer of the funds in the
bank. This why it is important that we have a plan on the type of
lucrative business that we can invest the funds on.

I had at
various times had discussions with the director of international
remittance unit of the bank where my father deposited the funds and I
was assured that once, I have someone who would be willing to receive
the funds on my behalf, they shall commence all proceedings to effect
the release and transfer of the funds into the person's designated
account. Now, that you have signified your interest to partner with me,
it
would only be very necessary if you contact the bank and request for
the release and transfer of my inheritance fund into your nominated
account for the purpose of investment and to further have me come over
to your country to continue with my studies.

I shall be giving you the bank's contact details as soon as I hear from you so that you will go ahead and contact the bank.

Talk
to you the more.

Sara David

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