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: " WILIMANS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ederwson@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 10:04:38 -0700
Subject: Hello Global Banking Division


Global Banking Division
Barclays Bank Plc
1 Churchill Place London, E14 5HP-United Kingdom
http://www.barclays.co.uk

Dear,
RE: INSTRUCTIONS TO CREDIT YOUR BANK ACCOUNT WITH US$64,800,000.00

We at this bank wish to congratulate and inform you that after
thorough review of your funds transfer schedule in conjunction with
the World Bank?s and the International Monetary Funds assessment
report, your payment file was forwarded to us for immediate transfer
of a part-payment of US$10,800,000.00 to your designated bank account
from their offshore account with us.

The Auditor's reports forwarded to us shows that you have been going
through hard times in the past, by paying a lot of money to see to the
release of your outstanding funds, which has been delayed by some
dubious officials.

correspondence outside this office till we transfer the funds into
your bank account since you do not have to pay any money or transfer
charges to receive your funds as you have met up with the whole funds
transfer requirements.

The only thing required from you is to obtain the Non-Residential
Clearance Form to enable us credit your account directly by
telegraphic transfer or through any of our corresponding banks and
send copies of our bank's telex and funds transfer documents to you
and your bankers for confirmation.

Should you follow our directives, your funds will be credited and
confirm in your bank account within five (5) working days from the day
you obtain this Non-Residential Clearance Form.
For further details and assistance on this Transfer Notice, kindly
forward your CONTACT ADDRESS, TELEPHONE and FAX NUMBERS directly to my
Private E-mail: ederwson@hotmail.com, for confidentiality of its
contents.
Yours sincerely,
Mr EDERSON WILIMANS
Global Banking Division, Barclays Bank Plc, UK.

Anti-fraud resources: