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: janet yellen <janetyellen609@outlook.com>
Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2014 11:09:48 +0000
Subject: FEDERAL RESERVE BANK.


FEDERAL RESERVE BANKBIRMINGHAM BRANCH524 LIBERTY PARKWAYBIRMINGHAM,ALABAMA 35242TEL (256) 867-7067
OUR REF;FRB-75BFALUS14
ATTENTION
PAYMENT RELEASE INSTRUCTION FROM FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF BIRMINGHAM-ALABAMA.
ACTING ON OUR CAPACITY AS THE INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT BANK TO THE INTERNATIONAL MONETORY FUND ORGANIZATION,THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED A CONFIRMATION ORDER FROM THE IMF EXTERNAL AUDITORS,WORLD BANK,UNITED NATIONS AND THE FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF AMERICA RESPECTIVELY VIA INTERNATIONAL PAYMENT VOUCHER NUMBER;IMF/FRBWDC/FRBAL-93WB82UN567-G. REQUESTING OUR BANK TO DISBURSE YOUR FUNDS TO YOU.YOU ARE YET TO RECEIVE YOUR FUNDS VALUED AT (ONE MILLION ,FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) AS OUTSTANDING DEBT OWED TO YOU.IT IS WITH PLEASURE THAT I INFORM YOU THAT THE ATM CARD VALUED AT $1,500,000 USD ONLY HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.YOU ARE ADVICED THAT A MAXIMUM WITHDRAWAL VALUE $3,000.00 IS PERMITTED ON WITHDRAWAL PER DAY AND ARE DULY INTER SWITCH SO YOU CAN MAKE ANY WITHDRAWAL AT ANY ATM OF YOUR CHOICE AROUND THE WORLD.YOU HAVE BEEN ISSUED WITH THIS EXCLUSIVE REFERENCE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (IMF/FRB-AL14USXX10751/14,TRANSACTION NUMBER'WHA/EUR/203,TRANSFER ALLOCATION NUMBER;FRB/X44/701BM/AL/US,PASSWORD;339331,PIN CODE;78569.CERT OF MERIT NO;104,SECRET CODE;XXTN014.HAVING GIVEN THESE VITAL PAYMENT CODES,YOU ARE TO RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENTS WITHIN THE NEXT THREE BANKING DAYS AS NECESSARY CLEARANCE HAS BEEN GRANTED TO YOU WITH EFFECT.IN VIEW OF THIS DIRECTIVE FROM THE IMF,YOU ARE TO CONTACT ME ASAP.TREAT AS URGENTJANET YELLENDIRECTOR OF FUNDS CLEARANCE UNIT.

Anti-fraud resources: