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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: US ARMY ENVOY <publicservice325@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fredshaw32@outlook.com
Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2022 14:40:56 -0800
Subject:

Due to the atrocities some people are committing against humanity on the
internet through scams, I will not be surprised if you doubt my message
because a lot of them may have been sent to you. But one thing for sure is,
this is not a scam and nowhere related to scam. I hate and go against the
scammers as much as you do, so do not see this message as one of the scams.
My name is Fred Shaw, I served as US Army special envoy to Syria. Right
now, I'm in Syria with my teams, working with the Syrian force(s) to help
protect the oil fields from the ISIS groups. You might be wondering why I
contacted you today, Because I do not have any formal relationship with you
and I have not seen you in real life. Well, the main purpose of writing
this letter is to reveal the situation I have been facing.

I have an account with Bank of America which has a sum of $7.9M ( Seven
million Nine hundred thousand United States dollars) in it. The $7.9M in
the account was awarded to me by the international monetary fund(IMF) in
collaboration with the European Union and NATO, for my selfless deeds and
contributions to peace in the Middle East. Just recently, I got a letter
from the Bank stating that the account will be permanently closed for being
inactive for a long time. Upon receiving the warning from the Bank, I
quickly sent a letter of authorization to request the Bank to donate the
WHOLE money to a charity organization instead of me losing the money. The
request to donate the money to charity organizations was not granted to me,
because my present and signature will be needed before the donation to any
charity. Due to the flight restriction in Syria, I was unable to come back
to the US. In that case, I want to use this opportunity and request you to
take charge of the account.. Most importantly, to invest $5M in the oil and
gas business to my name and donate $1.9M to THE charity, then use the
remaining $1M to solve your financial problems.

However, it is not mandatory, nor will I in any manner compel you to honor
my proposal, but it is better you stand as a new beneficiary of the account
than to watch the account blocked permanently. Be rest assured that this
proposal is hitch-free, you should not entertain any fears and do not be
skeptical towards the request I made to you. There is nothing implicating
or fearful about it, because I have the legal papers and documents to back
it up and protect you from being charged for obtaining my money under false
pretense.. If you can help me, please write to me on my Email:
fredshaw32@outlook.com For more information on how to get everything done.


Sincerely,
Fred Rickshaw.

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