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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "sara kome" <kome_sarah@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: kome_sara@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Fri, 15 Jul 2005 12:08:09 +0100
Subject: God bless you

Dear Friend
I am very sorry to bother you with my plight.
please know that it's not by mistake I am are contacting you but by the special grace of God.
After searching for someone I can lay
my plight to,I've finally come with you after prayers to God.
My name is SARA KOME from Liberia. I am 19.
My father and I escaped from our country at the heat of the
civil war after loosing my mother and two of my senior sisters in
the war.They were raped and shot.
My father established his cocoa business in Kumasi, Ghana.
He was in ACCRA, to negotiate for the purchase
a field when he was involved in an auto crash.
There is a big problem here and the people here hate foriegners.
He was hospitalised before he finally gave up on on the 24th of March .
His death has now made me an orphan and I am exposed to danger.
As I write, foriegners are attacked on daily basis.
Before the unfortunate sudden death, my father called me to his side and
told me he have a total sum of 8.45 million dollars deposited in a security company in Brussels Belgium.
He said he used me his only surviving child as his next of kin to the deposite and incase he
fails to make it that I should take care of myself and get someone to help
invest the money for me. I have all the papers with me here.
I have confirm from the company with all the papers he gave me on the deposit.
I asked them to transfer me the money but they sent me the document my dad signed with them that I must be 25 years old before they can hand over the money to me personally.
They said I should send them my birth certificate which I did and they told me that am still under the age my dad signed with them.
They told me that my dad made a provision that my guardian can manage the money on my behalf.
Please this is where I need you please.I am suffering here without money and
since he died,I have not gone to school again while there is money lying in
there.
I have tried to locate any of my family but all to no avail and this is why
I have decided to get one fo rmy self to assist me in getting the money out.
I will do all you want from me provided its within my reach and the will of
God.
I am trusting you because I trust God never to lead me astray.
Please help me.
I have just told them that my guardian will contact them because I dont want
them to take advantage of me that i have no guardian.
I want you to stand for me as my guardian and contact the bank.Tell them you
are my guardian and because of the crisis here,you want me to be with you
where you can better take care of me.
Tell them to transfer the money to you immediately.

.Please help save my life please.
I have no more money here and feeding is a big problem to me now.
Please I am trusting you because I trust God.
Again, As soon as the money has been transfered ,to assist me with a letter
of invitation that will make me get a visa to
your country for residence inorder for me to continue my education and to
invest the fund in a viable
business there.
This money can take care of me there without any problem and please I need
you to
manage the fund for me as this is my last hope in life. I am ready to
do anything you want provided you help me.
You can Have 20 percent of
the money if you help me.If this is acceptable to you, send me a mail
through my e-mail account so that I can know you more .
Please send me your photo and your telephone number please.
God Bless you.
Yours, Sincerely
sara kome



Anti-fraud resources: