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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Management Team" <info@firstcitygroup.com>
Reply-To: <accountdept-fcmb@maktoob.com>
Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2010 10:30:01 +0200
Subject: GET BACK TO US IMMEDIATELY

WE ARE DIRECTED TO INFORM YOU BY THE EMBASSY OF DETAILS OF YOUR FAMILY INHERITANCE FUND IN OUR BANK [FIRST CITY MONUMENT BANK (FCMB) PLC. THE FUND WAS LEFT BEHIND IN A FIXED DEPOSIT ACCOUNT IN OUR BANK BY YOUR LATE RELATIVE WHO WAS AN ENGINEER.

PLEASE CONTACT THE ACCOUNTS DEPARTMENT OF THE FCMB PLC FOR MORE DETAILS, VERIFICATION AND PROCEDURES FOR CLAIM AS THE LEGITIMATE NEXT OF KIN / RELATIVE TO HANDLE THE IMMEDIATE WIRE TRANSFER OF THE FUND TO YOUR FAMILY.

GET BACK TO US IMMEDIATELY FOR MORE INFO.

ACCEPT OUR WARM REGARDS.

SIGNED,

MANAGEMENT.

Anti-fraud resources: