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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: "Patricia Antonia" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <patriciaaantonia@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2019 22:04:04 -0800
Subject: Greetings My Beloved One In Christ!!!

Dear beloved one in christ,
I knew that this letter may be a very big surprise to you, I came across your email contact from my personal search and I decided to e-mail you and  I believe that you will be honest to fulfill my final wish before I will die.
 
I am Mrs Patricia Antonia  from Netherland, I am 68 years old, I am suffering from a long time cancer of the breast. From all indication my condition is really deteriorating, and my doctor have courageously advised  me that I may not live beyond the next two months, this is because the cancer stage has reached a critical extent, of which I am having difficulties unable to move my entire body. I was brought up in a  motherless babies home, and was married to my late husband for twenty years without a child.
 
My husband  and I are true Christians, we lived all days in France   and  he was working here as a contractor, but quite  unfortunately,he died in a fatal motor accident.Since his death I decided  not to re-marry and because of my bad state of health,I sold all my inherited belongings and deposited all the sum of $12.5Million dollars with a bank in London Uk
 
Presently, this money is still in the BANK, and the management of the BANK  just wrote a letter to me as the rightful Legitimate beneficiary to come  forward to receive the money after keeping it for so long or rather issue  a letter of authorization to somebody to receive it on my behalf since I can not come over as a result of my present health condition, or  they get it confiscated. Presently, I'm with my small laptop  in a  hospital where I have been undergoing treatment. I have since lost my  ability to talk and my doctor have told me that I have only a few months  to live.
 
It is my last wish to see that this money is invested in any organization of your choice and distributed each year among the charity organization, the poor and the motherless baby's home where I come from. I want your  good humanitarian,to also use this money to fund churches, orphanages and  widows around.
 
I must let you know  that this was a very hard decision, but I had to take  a bold step towards this issue because I have no further option. I hope  you will help see my last wishes to come true.
 
As soon as I receive your reply  I will  issue a letter of authorization to the bank  as the accredited person that I sent to receive the fund presently at the Bank in London United Kingdom. , which will prove that you are the rightful beneficiary of my funds. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I stated herein.
 
Hope to hear from you soonest.
 
I await your immediate and urgent response on this my beloved.
 
Yours in Christ,
 
Mrs Patricia Antonia

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