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: "Saeed Ahmed Aban" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cm26aw30@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 20:52:01 -0800
Subject: PARY FOR ME.

I sent you this email about two weeks ago and i got no response, so i am constrained to contact you again via the internet which has been severely abused by fraudsters over the years. I am an oil-servicing equipment merchant, from Dubai, U.A.E, diagnosed with chronic Esophageal cancer in July 2009. My name is Saeed Ahmed Aban.

Please do not think of this letter as one of those being sent around to ask for money later on. In the past one year i have been donating my money, to charity organizations in Malaysia, and India. Now that my health has deteriorated so badly, i cannot do this myself anymore. I once asked two members of my family to close one of my accounts and distribute the money to charity organizations in Indonesia and Southern Sudan, but they kept the money to themselves. So, if family can do that, why not trust a total stranger.

I have one last bulk sum, totalling twenty million dollars $20m, that I have with a finance security company in Europe. I need you to retrieve this deposit and distribute it to charity organizations to help earthquake and flood victims in Haiti, elsewhere in the world. I have set aside 10% for your time and service. I do not need this money anymore as i have a short time to live.

Please reply me with honesty as soon as you receive this email. God be with you.

Saeed Ahmed Aban

Anti-fraud resources: