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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Maj Theresa S. Jones" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <majtheresashjones@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 2016 20:56:48 -0200
Subject: Hello Dear Friend

Dear Friend

I need your assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you via email, this medium is personally considered safest and the cheapest means of reaching out to you from the U.S.Military base here in the Middle East.From all indications you are God sent, with the way and how lucky I was to get your e-mail contact address from the U.S. military base library address journal through my online search.

I am seeking your kind assistance to move the sum of ( US$4.7MILLION) to you, if I can be assured that my share will be safe in your care until I get my leave permission to join you in three weeks, this MONEY was discovered in 2010,by my battallion, which includes (Staff Sgt.Kenneth Buff & Sgt.Van Daniel Ess),and the above mentioned amount was given to me as my personal share hence i want to move this money to you for safe keeping till am able to complete the process for my leave permission.

I must tell you that a whole lot of money was discovered during that war some wrong figures has made its way to the Internet. I had waited for this long before i sent this message to you just to ensure that everything is in place and i need you to be very sincere about it ,all that i need is your trust and honesty with the safe keep of the said funds till my return from duty to meet with you. I will handle all the necessary arrangements myself to ensure that you safely receive the money in your care,the consignment will be delivered to your doorstep.

But,my Question is 'CAN I TRUST YOU"?. You will be rewarded with 30% of this funds for your help.I will be very grateful if you can give me the opportunity to discuss this matter with you by assuring me that you will not use any part of it against me in anyway, I hope you understand my limitations here. Should you have reasons to reject this offer, please destroy this mail as any leakage will be dangerous for us.I will continue with the details when you signify your intention to work with me.


Sincerely,

Major Theresa S. Jones

majtheresasjones@gmail.com

Anti-fraud resources: