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: "Mia O. Ortiz" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <miaortizz@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Oct 2019 19:41:32 -0700
Subject: Dearest One

Dearest One,
I know that this piece of mail will reach you in Godly manners and in a perfect healthy condition, how are you doing for today together with your family as well as your health condition which is the most important thing in life? Hope fine. Please look not unto race or religion and consider your help towards me, because of the problems that are facing me as a result of the death of my father; and also please do permit me to inform you of my desire asking you to be my guardian/foreign beneficiary to help me out in this mutual matter am about to disclose to you.
My name is Mia O. Ortiz 16 years old from Managua Capital of Nicaragua, and the only child of Late Mr. & Mrs. Aldrich Ortega Ortiz. My Late father was a very wealthy gold dealer and international businessman here in Nicaragua. He was poisoned to death by his business associates in one of their outing on a business trip and my mother died when I were still a baby.
Before the death of my father dated August 2018 in a private hospital here in Nicaragua; he furtively called me by his bed side and told me that he has the sum of Fifteen Million, Five Hundred and Fifty thousand United States Dollars USD ($15,550,000.00) deposited with a certain bank which he intended to use for investment before he was stroked down by the illness.
He told me that he used my name Mia O. Ortiz as the next of Kin to deposit of the fund as his only heir. He then strongly advised me NOT to seek for assistance in the investment of the inheritance from his lawyer or any of his friends but to seek for a foreign partner abroad from any country of my choice (outside my country, Nicaragua due political instability as Nicaragua faces HIPC and also to avoid me not to put my life at risk so that what happened to him will not repeat itself to me) that will assist me in the save keeping and wise investment of the legacy.
I have since left the fund at the bank, with the view of making good use of it for investment purposes after my educational carrier but since the death of my father, life seems to be cruel and not worth living as am exposed to danger at this my tender age, which also made me to drop out of school.
I’m presently taking shelter in a church, here in Nicaragua, and finally decided to take quick actions and have its retrieved out of the country Nicaragua.
That is why I need your vital aid to transfer this fund out from this country to your personal account over there in your country, and I like you to assist me use it for investment purpose like real estate or hotel management or any lucrative business of your choice; Because of this I’m honorably seeking your assistance in the following ways:
(1) To be my Guardian and then assist me financially to ascertain the entire permissible documents to make sure that this inheritance fund is retrieved from the bank.
(2) To make arrangement for me to come over to your country to further my education and then settle there permanently.
I’m willing to offer you a compensation of 15% for your assistance. As soon as I receive your full assurance promising to assist me, I will then furnish you with the next step to follow.
please reply back to my email address miaortizz@yahoo.com
Regards,
Mia O. Ortiz.

Anti-fraud resources: