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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- infooceanicbdirectoroffice@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: EFCC CRIME OFFICE <efccrimedpt017@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 14 Feb 2017 12:53:46 +0000
Subject: Attention please!!!
Attention please!!!
I am Mr.Ibrahim Mustafa Magu the new Acting Chairman to ECONOMICAL FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION (EFCC) in alliance with Economic community of West African states (ECOWAS) with head Office here in Nigeria. We were authorized by the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Governing Board of Central Bank to investigate the unnecessary delay of your payment,to also recommend and approve your claims for payment if the report of the unclaimed contract/inheritance funds is genuine.
However, we discovered that your funds has been unnecessarily delayed by corrupt officials of some banks. We have agreed with the authority that we will handle this payment ourselves to avoid the hopeless situation created by those officials.
Currently your Inheritance/Contract fund of $7.5Million has been credited in ATM card. Contact Mr. Shegun Akintomi (Oceanic bank ATM director) with your details such as your house address including your phone lines for immediate delivery.
Contact Name:Mr. Shegun Akintomi
Email:infooceanicbdirectoroffice@yahoo.com
Tel:+234:-1-7238760
Signed,
Management Of Efcc
Ibrahim Mustafa Magu
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Anti-fraud resources:
