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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.Rubby Johnson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrsrubbyjohnson002@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2015 18:49:26 -0700
Subject: Greetings in the name of the LORD Almighty...?

Hello  Dear,
I  great you  in  the  name  of  the  almighty  God, I hope this mail
will  meet you in good health. It may surprise you to receive  this
proposal from me since you do not know me personally but  I got your
contact email  online.I am sincerely seeking your help.My name is
Mrs.Mariam James  Ibrahim a national  of  Maltese Island. I am
currently living in the  outskirt  of  Frankfurt  city in Germany . I
was  married to Mr.James  Ibrahim  who was  a  yellow  Maize merchant
and  we lived together here  before  his death 3  years  ago.
 
We were married for ten  years  without a child.He died after a brief
illness that lasted for four days. Since his death i decided not to
remarry.When my husband was alive he deposited the sum of $10million
[Ten  million US dollars] with a financial institution in  Europe.
 
The money is still in a holding account  and  it require the
processing of an affidavit of claim to  activate the release  for  the
remittance to  the nominated  account of  my  appointed receiver &
trustee. I have  been bedridden  with  stroke which  has  affected
the  key organs  of  my body  and   I  would like   to  relocate  to
China for urgent  medical  care as soon as possible  if   I can  get
your support to   move  the  deposited  fund  from  the financial
institution  in Europe to  your account  as  my  appointed
beneficiary.
 
I can only communicate  with you via email now because of the  present
state  of  my  health, I cannot  make  calls  now.I  want  you to help
me in securing  this fund  as  my appointed  beneficiary I  don't want
  people  too  close  to me  in  this  arrangement  who  will  later
messed up  the process  .You  have  my permission  to   retain  40% of
the  fund  and  keep  60% for  me  to  enable me travel to  China  for
traditional Chinese  acupuncture  medical treatment which  has  been
recommended  to  me as one  of  the  best place for  the  treatment of
stroke  and  paralysis.
I  will  send  you more  details as soon as I  receive your acceptance
of  this  offer.
Send your  reply and  present  location to:  mariamibrahim2011@qq.com
 
Best regards,
 
Mrs  Mariam James  Ibrahim
Theodor-Heuss-Allee18,6048615 Frankfurt am Main,Germany

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