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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: Alina Fahim <richjc101@gmail.com>
Reply-To: alinafahim1@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2020 14:13:35 +0100
Subject: HI

Hello,



Please do not feel disturbed for contacting you, based on the critical
condition I find myself in, I am Mrs Alina Fahim , a Syrian woman. I
desire to relocate to your country due to the prolonged civil unrest/war in
Syria, as well as the daily life threatening attacks by al-Qaeda militants.
I have already lost my family, my husband, son and daughter to the cold
hands of death during an attack targeted at our home on March 23, 2018, to
end our family.I was not around during the crossfire. I was at the hospital
for check up when the attacked our home killing my beloved husband, son and
daughter and setting the house ablaze.

I am in tears writing you this mail. He (my late husband) was a very
successful contractor in the oil city of Syria , and was privately dealing
on gold dust and bars before his untimely death. Unexpectedly, he left
behind some reasonable amount of money, which I desire to invest in the
Real Estate sector, Travel & Tourism, Hotel Management and other
interesting sectors in your country.

As you may or may not know, the sanctions imposed by the United States and
the European Union have made it nearly impossible to successfully operate
any type of investment here in Syria or to even transfer money from here to
other parts of the world. For this reason, I am contacting you in great
confidence with the hope that you could help me get this money into your
country for investment purposes:

Please I would like to know how convenient it might be for you to assist me
in this way. The entire capital at my disposal is Nine Million Euro. I
secretly locked up the money in a trunk box and deposited it with the Red
Cross here in Syria. My sincere intention in writing to you is to plead
with you to kindly accept the money box. This is because we cannot do any
bank transfers from here following the war. These are the major issues of
concern to me now.

I will give you 20% of the total money as your benefit for helping me.

I have to take this chance because I have no other alternative but to trust
somebody.

I cannot risk my life here to avoid an end to my family lineage. As a woman
since my husband, son and daughter are dead. I deserve a decent life in a
peaceful environment, I will relocate to your country and invest the money
in accordance with law, your advice and support; we can work together and
achieve.

I anticipate your positive response and on receipt of your information I
will provide you with further details.



Yours faithfully,


Mrs. Alina Fahim

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