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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: "Mr. Vincent Zulu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vincentzuluimf4@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2015 06:36:25 -0700
Subject: RE: EMAIL ME ASAP

Mr. Vincent Zulu
Fund Transfer Monitoring Team
IMF Liaison Office, Pretoria
South Africa
Attn: Beneficiary.
This is to officially notify you that your delayed contract/Lottery/Inheritance payment has finally been approved to be paid to you within the next 48 hours. This instruction came to our office to contact you immediately for the transfer of your approved amount to your designated bank account without any further delay. This office oversees and approves all foreign payments coming out of Africa to Europe, Asia Far East and USA. Our job is to make sure that beneficiary's funds are remitted to them within 48 hours once they have completed the requirements via our approved banks.
Just few hours ago, a man by name Mr. Tim Mallett contacted our office informing us that you have given him instruction and authority to receive the approved US$7,900,000.00 (Seven Million Nine Hundred Thousand US Dollars) only on your behalf. According to him, he said that you asked him to represent you in receiving this amount also he forwarded an account where your funds should be transferred to immediately.
Here is the information he forwarded to us for your own confirmation:
Tim Mallett
G&T Volunteers
370 Lacroix Street Chatham,
Ontario Canada N7M 2W3
TD Canada Trust
255 King Street at 3rd Chatham,
Ontario Canada N7M 1E6
Account# 0011-6243094
Transit & Branch # 060-00112-004
We want you to confirm to us immediately if you at any time instructed the above person to receive this amount on your behalf and if no, you are requested to immediately get back to me with your full name, contact address and current telephone numbers. I shall immediately begin the process of re-approving this $7,900,000.00 into your name as the beneficiary and final recipient to enable the paying bank contact you for onward transfer to your nominated account.
Note that most people are not aware that they have payments approved to their name because they have not been notified and we the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have confirmed the legality of this fund transfer hence we urge you to act on this now to get your funds transferred to your account. This serves as a notification to you that a payment of $7,900,000.00 is approved in your favor and will be credited to you as soon as you work with us.
Upon receipt of your confirmation, we shall immediately process your payment documents and forward it to our approved paying Bank to carry out your transfer within the next 48 hours after processing. If you sent this man, do reconfirm also to enable us proceed with the payment into the above stated account without any further delay. We will appreciate your urgent response and confirmation as this office has been given until two weeks to carry out all approved payments or return them as unclaimed funds. Note that the earlier you respond to this message, the better as all modalities have been put in place for immediate payment of the above sum.
Thanking you for letting us serve you better.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Vincent Zulu
Fund Transfer Monitoring Team
IMF Liaison Office, Pretoria
South Africa

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