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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "huge amount of money" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "robert mugabe" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Cathrine Gerald Akins <info@enfinecom.fr>
Date: Sat, 07 Mar 2015 15:52:20 +0100
Subject: Contract
--
Dear Sir
It is my great pleasure contacting you today having found your contact
information in my late husband export file. Before move forward to
explain the reason for my sending this email to you, I wish to first of
all introduce myself. My name is Mrs C. Gerald Akins from Zimbabwe. I
am a mother of two and wife of late Mr Gerald Akins a well known farmer
and diamond merchant in Zimbabwe. My husband died of hearth attack after
the seizure of all his life times investment which includes his
farmland in Zimbabwe by President Robert Mugabe. I am contacting you
today as my last resort to protect my
children future before it is too late. Base on this, the services I need
from you is to help me and my children relocate to your country and help
us to invest, stablise and continue our lives there since my lates
husband before he died was able to move a huge amount of money to a bank
outside Zimbabwe and instructed the bank to blocked it pending when his
business partner
will contact them for onward transfer of the fund to his country for
investment.
Thus, now that my husband is late and we are left with nothing, I have
approached the bank manager for the release of the fund and the bank
manager said I should advise my late husband's partner to come forward
by contacting them to enable them release the fund to him and as well
transfer as instructed by my late husband for immediate investment.
Thus, I am contacting you to join hands with me to have this fund
transferred to your country as I will like to introduce you to the bank
as my late husband partner to enable the bank release and transfer the
fund to your account while you take your percentage/
compensation as we may agree and then invest part of the balance in any
good business you may feel ok for me and my childrens upbringing while
part of the fund be used to buy a house in your country so we can have a
place to live when we arrive.
I will in my next email to you send you copy of my passport and national
id including the certificate of deposit as issued by the bank when my
late husband deposited the fund with them for your verification and
immediate action.
Please my english is not too good as I am old and have a bad sight
which makes it impossible for me to see the computer key board very
well.
Kindly reply to this email today as I am anxiously waiting for your
response.
Thanks and God Bless You
Mrs C. Gerald Akins
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