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: "Mrs Avril Finigham" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <brianfinigham@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 28 May 2011 01:58:36 +0100
Subject: DEAR BELOVED

Dearly Beloved,

It is by the grace of God that i received Christ,having know the truth i had no choice than to do what is lawful and just in the sight of God for eternal life and in the sight of man for witness of God and his mercies and glory upon my life.

I am Mr Brian Finigham,the Husband of Mrs Avril Finigham ,my wife worked with the Chevron/Texaco in south Africa for twenty years before she died after a brief illness that lasted for only fourdays,before her death we both got born -again and dedicated Christians.Since her death i decided not to re-marry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the bible is strongly against.when my late wife was the alive she deposited the Sum of $22.5 Million

(Twenty two million Five Hundred Thousand us Dollars)with a bank in Europe.

Presently,this money is still with the Bank and the management just wrote me as the beneficiary that out account has been DORMANT and if i,as the beneficiary of the funds,do not re-activate the account,the funds will be CONFISCATED or I rather issue a letter of authorisation to somebody to receive it on my behalf (note that you need to activate this account)as i cannot come over.

Presently,i am in the hospital where i have been under going treatment for Oesophageal cancer.

I have since lost my ability to talk and my doctors have told that i have only few weeks to live.it is my last wish to see this money distributed to charity organizations anywhere in the World.Because relatives and friends have plundered so much of my wealth since my illness,i cannot live with the agony of entrusting this responsibility to any of them.

Please,i beg you in the name of God to help me stand –in as the beneficiary and collect the funds from the Bank.i want a person that is God fearing who will use this money to fund churches,orphanage and the widows propagating the word of God and to ensure that the house of God is maintained.the Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that g ives.i took this decision because i don’t have any child that will inherit this money and my wife’s relative are not Christians and i don’t want my wifes hard earned money to be misused by unbelievers.I don’t want a situation where this money will be used

in an ungodly manner.Hence the reason for taking this bold decision.

I am not afraid of death since i know that i am going to be in the bossom of the lord(Exodus 14 vs 14)says that the lord will fight my case and i shall hold my peace.i don’t need any telephone communication in this regard because of my soundless voice and presence of my of my wife’s relatives around me always.I don’t want them to know about this development.

With God all things are possible,beloved send all replies to my other email: brianfinigham@hotmail.co.uk

Sincerly Brother in Christ,

Mr Brian Finigham


Anti-fraud resources: