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: "Federal Ministry of Finance" <sankyo@ite.net>
Reply-To: foreign_asset1@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2008 08:28:06 +1000
Subject: PAYMENT OF ACCUMULATED INTEREST.

Federal Ministry of Finance,
Headquarters, Ahmadu Bello Way,
Central Business District,
P.M.Box 41,Garki,
Abuja, Nigeria
Palmer Branch Office Complex,
Benin-city Nigeria
Office of the Paymaster General
Dr. Ahmed Tanko
Fund Remittance Department
Email: foreign_asset1@yahoo.com.hk
http://www.fmf.gov.ng


Please ask for: The Director, Compliance Board.

Attention,

SUBJECT: PAYMENT OF ACCUMULATED INTEREST SUM, TRN
LAIKI435537672828, AMOUNT USD1,198,901-02 (ONE MILLION, ONE
HUNDRED AND NINETY EIGHT THOUSAND, NINE HUNDRED AND ONE UNITED
STATES DOLLARS, AND TWO CENTS) ONLY. This is to inform you that
we have just received a NOTIFICATION from a bank here (First
Bank Nig Plc) , Channel Islands, Nigeria) concerning a
deposited funds of US$1,198,901.02 in their custody.

Based on the letter of notification from the bank, they said
that sometime ago, a fund was sent to their bank to be
transferred to your account as the beneficiary, but due to
inability of the Bank to settle all clearance problems with the
Treasury Department concerning the source of the fund, the fund
was repatriated and payment cancelled. The bank informed us
that during the time this fund stayed in their custody waiting
for clearance, it had an accumulated interest sum of
US$1,198,901.02 and from further information, we have
discovered that you are the beneficiary of the fund; hence we
send you this letter.

We are ready to release this interest sum by KTT (KEY TESTED
TELEX TRANSFER) to you within 72hrs of this payment notice and
endorsement as soon as we hear from you; hence we are sending
you this payment notification to enable you come forward to
claim the interest sum.
You should get back to this office without delay.

Attn: Dr. Ahmed Tanko
Tel:+234-703-636-8563
Fax:+234-804-573-6846
Email: foreign_asset1@yahoo.com.hk

In addition, you are advised to furnish me with the following
for final vetting and onward release to you:
1. Your Full name and address
2. Your telephone and fax numbers

We are waiting for your reply in order to apply funds; hence
you should treat as urgent and of top priority for a better
service from us as.
we have ONLY 72hrs mandate to process and release this interest
sum to you.

Sincerely yours,

Best regards,
Hon. Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman (OFR)
Federal Ministry of Finance
Federal Republic of Nigeria

Cc: Senate President
Cc: All Foreign Payment Offices
Cc: Board of Directors [Fpd]
Cc: Accountant General of the Federation.



Anti-fraud resources: