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: Catherine Afred <catherineafred00@gmail.com>
Reply-To: catherineafred001@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2023 08:21:46 +0100
Subject: Dear Beloved One,


Dear Beloved One,

I greet you in the name of God, it is true that this letter may come to you
as a surprise but nevertheless, I humbly ask you to give me your attention
and hear me well. My name is Mrs. Catherine Afred, I am 65 years old and I
am married to Mr. Williams Afred, and we were married for a period of (20)
twenty years before he died in 2019.



We were married for 20 years without a child and he died after a
brief illness and since his death I decided not to remarry due to
my religious belief and old age. When my late husband was alive
he deposited the sum of three million five hundred thousand United States
dollars (3.5 Million dollars) with a Bank here. Presently this money is
still in the custody of the Bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that I would
not last for the next four months due to my cancer illness.

Having known my condition I decided to donate this money to
churches, organizations or good people that will utilize this fund the way
I am going to instruct for a proper idea on how this fund would be used.

I want you to use this money for charity organizations, orphanages, widows
and other people that are in need. I took this decision because I don't
have any child that will inherit this money. Moreover, my husband's
relatives are not close to me since I developed cancer illness and it had
been their wish to see me dead so as to enable them to inherit my husband’s
wealth hence we have no Child. These people are not worthy of this
inheritance. This is why I am taking this decision to contact you and
donate this fund to you for the charity works. And 30% of this money will
be for your time and effort, while 70% goes to charities.

As soon as I receive your reply, I will give you the contact of the Bank
where this fund was deposited by my deceased husband before his sudden
death.

Any delay in your reply may give me room to look for another good person
for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I
stated above.

Thanks and Remain blessed.
Yours Sister
Mrs. Catherine Afred

Anti-fraud resources: