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: "FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fbiaaaagovus@tlen.pl>
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:25:15 +0100
Subject: <FBI> Your Award Fund Has Been Recovered Contact us immediately..

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONITARY CRIMES DIVISION
FBI HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001
DATE: 18/09/2009,
Website: www.fbi.gov
FUND BENEFICIARY
 
 
We received a security report from the UK ( United Kingdom ) security unit
To handle the case relating to your winners fund which you did not claim
And was abandoned in the bank there in the UK .
 
 
 
The report we had was that your abandoned fund was claimed by am unknown
Person with the help of some of the bank workers, the fund was
Transferred to Africa by these imposters and we sent a delegation to
Africa to apprehend them, with the information reaching our office
Today, they have apprehended the culprit who stole your winner's fund to
Africa and they have been handed over to the EFCC OF NIGERIA.
 
 
 
And we have ordered the EFCC OF NIGERIA to extradite them back to the
UK , to face the authorities in the UK in bring them to justice, and it
Also come to our notice that some group of fraudulent people are
Contacting you, we need your help to apprehend all of them, because they
are a pest to the world at large.
 
 
 
If you are not informed, your e-mail address was among the e-mails that
Won the year promo award of UK National Lottery, that is the fund that
was transferred to Africa , and it has been recovered.
We need your urgent response, so that we will tell you the proper agency
to contact for your winner fund that has been recovered.
 
Your's Sincerely
FBI Director
Robert S. Mueller, III

Anti-fraud resources: