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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: "Capt Philip Johnson" <phlpjhn2@aol.com>
Reply-To: philip.johnson1975@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2010 20:42:45 +0800 (HKT)
Subject: FROM:PHILIP JOHNSON

Hello,

I know this letter may come to you as a surprise but i believe it is only
a day that people meet and become great friends/business partners. Before
Proceeding, i wish to introduce myself; I am Captain Philip Johnson, with
the United Nations troop in Iraq, on war against terrorism. Based on the
United States legislative and executive decision for withdrawing troops
from Iraq come this year, I have been deployed to come and work in your
country's military base soonest.

Our mission is to help beef up terrorist targeted states on the war
against terrorism.I believe you will maintain the trust and confidence of
what i am about to reveal to you. On the 2nd of June, It happened that I
went for this raid of terrorist here in Iraq with the men in my unit and
luckily we recovered the sum of USD10.2 Million, because the terrorist
keep most of their money at home for evil activities which they normally
get through illegal deals on crude oil. Based on the suffering we undergo
in this evil land here some of us do meet such luck. So I decided to take
it as my share for my stress here in this evil land filled with suicide
bombers. I deposited this money with the RED CROSS informing them that i
am making contact for the real owner of the box. It is now under my power
to approve whoever that will come forth for the money.

Moreover the Red Cross are waiting for me to come and inform them of the
owner of the box.I wish to use part of this money for charity purposes in
Turkey, where we have about 3 million Iraq refugees and Sudan where we
have currently the highest numbers of refugees displaced as a result of
war. You need to visit such places. I want to invest the money on stock
fish from Norway to this refugees because base on my experience on battle
ground in this places, they lack a lot of fish and meat to add to their
meager and unpalatable meals which they get in little quantity just to
keep them living until God knows when the problem ends.

Instead of allowing these terrorists to get the money and spend it on
purchasing arms illegally from Russia and North Korea it is better
channeled to saving the world. So I need someone I could deal with on
trust and that is why i contacted you. If you accept, I will put you
forward as the beneficiary of the funds and transfer the money to you
because as a uniformed person and I cannot be parading such an amount so I
need to present someone i can trust as the Owner/beneficiary.

I am an American and an intelligence officer and I have a 100% authentic
means of transferring the money through diplomatic courier service. I just
need your acceptance and all is done. I have all the needed logistics in
place so you have nothing to worry about. Please if you are interested in
this transaction, then, I will give to you the complete details you need
for us to carry out this transaction successfully as all you need is to
follow my instructions and directives.I believe I can trust you. Where we
are now, we can only communicate through our military communication
facilities which are secured so
nobody can monitor our emails, then I can explain in details to you.

I will only be able reach you through email for now, because our calls
might be monitored, if you are interested to work wit me, then let me know
so we can proceed as time is very important to me. This money is my life
and i am willing to give you 30% of the total sum when the money arrives
under your custody. I wait for your response so we can proceed
immediately. In less than 7days the money should be in your safe custody,
and then i will come over to meet when we are out of the military base.

Regards,

Captain Philip Johnson

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