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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: Maj Vincent Brooks <maj.vincentbrooks111@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 23:02:26 +0700
Subject: Info

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 Maj. Vincent K Brooks from the Praire State in Southern Illinois
U.S.A. 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 January 2014, 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 UN soldiers in an airstrike in Kunduz
Afghanistan's Northern Province. They took us to their cave in Marzar
Sharif which also serves 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.

E-mail me privately at maj.vincentbrooks@usa.com

With the assurances of my gratitude and compliance to the terms, I remain,

Very sincerely,

Maj.Vincent K Brook

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