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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: "mrs. kathe Stevens" <mrskstephens4@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Mar 2018 17:25:24 +0000
Subject: Humanitarian/Charity Course For You




My Dear Good Friend,

I am Mrs.Kathy Stevens from Philippine, now undergoing medical treatment for Cancer; with due respects and honour, this letter is strictly confidential and personal to you. Forgive my unusual manner of contacting you, but this particular letter is of exceptional and very private nature. My quest to locate a responsible individual or church to bring my dreams to a reality, hence l took this bold step to contact you through this medium and I would not like you to take an offence that l am bothering you since you do not know me neither have we met before.

I am married to Dr. Allan Stevens who worked with Ghana embassy in UK for nine years, before he died in the year 2009. we were both married for sixteen years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we were both involved in charity services. Since his death I decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which is against my religion.

When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of 7.5 million (Seven million Five hundred thousand United States of America Dollars) with a Finance Firm in
Europe for charity work, with my name as Next of Kin. Presently, this money is still invested in this Finance House.

Recently my Doctors has confirmed to me that I have less than Three Months to live, so I have decided to donate my funds (USD7.5 Million) for charity work through a trustworthy individual/church who will utilise it to assist the needy and less-privileged in the society. As a God fearing person, I believe you shall not betray my trust, I took this decision because I don't have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are well to do and I do not want them to know about this particular fund, because I do not want my husband's hard earned money to be misused in an ungodly manner.

I am not afraid of death because l have lived a fulfilled life. As it is right now, I do not need any telephone communication in this regard because of my doctors advice and the presence of my husband's relatives around me always. I do not want them to know about the existence of this fund. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you certificate of deposite, authority letter and the contact of the finance firm in UK, so that you can contact them immediately for the release of the fund to you before I die.

You shall be entitled to 20% of the total sum for handling this humanitarian project, while you shall use the balance of 80% to distribute to the charity homes and less-priviledged in the society, even if I am dead.

If you are interested and capable to handle this humanitarian course on my behalf, do get back to me promptly for more details to proceed.

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs.Kathy Stevens

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