joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Mensah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lindennmensah@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Dec 2015 18:56:27 -0800
Subject: Please I need your help

Please I need your help

Please permit me to introduce myself; I am Miss Nana Linda Jacob Mensah, 17 years old female, Ghana by nationality and the only surviving child of my Late Father Jacob Dennis Mensah. The owner of local gold mining company in Ghana. My late father was poisoned and killed by his immediate family with the help of my step mother, because of a tussle over the ownership of the local gold mine. I am constrained to contact you because of the maltreatment and treat to my life, which I am receiving from my step mother and my father immediate family, at moment of writing to you now, I am into hiding for the fear of my life, because my step mother and the family planned to take away all my late father's treasury and properties from me.

Meanwhile I wanted to travel to overseas, but she forceful took away my passport. Luckily she did not discover where I kept my father's file which contains important documents like the will and deposit certificate of my father's funds, which bears my name as the next of kin, showing that my late father deposited two trunk boxes, containing $ 8.7 Million US Dollars and 150kg gold with a Security Company in Ghana. I am seeking for long term relationship and investment assistance.
I have contacted the Security Company to clear the deposit but the Manager told me that my late father place an instruction on the deposited consignment containing the money and gold that I must present a foreign trustee who will help me in investment of the fund.

However, the manager advised me to provide a trustee who will stand on my behalf for the clearance, delivery and receipt of consignment. I wanted to inform my stepmother about this deposit but I am afraid that she will not offer me anything after the release of the money because she threatens to kill me.

Therefore, I decided to seek for your help in clearing out the consignment from the Security Company, while I will relocate to your country and settle down with you. As you indicate your interest to help me, I will give you the contact information of the Security Company, where my beloved late father deposited the money with the gold in my name as the sole next of kin. It is my intention to compensate you with 30% out of the total money and gold after you have cleared it out, for your assistance and the remaining balance, you shall invest in any profitable ventures, which you will recommend to me, as I have no idea about foreign investments. Please all my communications with you should be through email address for confidential purposes.

Please contact me through this e-mail address for further procedure: lindennmensah@yahoo.com

Thanks in anticipation of your positive response.

Yours sincerely,
Miss Linda Mensah

---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

Anti-fraud resources: