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: "United Nation" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jim.zenithbank.ovia1@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:07:10 +0100
Subject: YOUR COMPENSATION FUND IS READY

New Page 1

http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/media/images/UN-LOGO%20copy.jpg

Attention:

This mail serves as a listening ear to the victims of scam the world over.

We have been having a meeting for the past 7 months which ended 2

days ago with the secretary general of the United Nations Organization.

This message is to all the people that have been scammed in any part of

the world, the United Nations have agreed to compensate them with the

sum of US$500,000. This includes every foreign contractors that may

not have received their contract sum, and people that have had an

unfinished transaction or international businesses that failed due to

Government problems etc.

We have a database of victims and that is why we are contacting you,

this has been deliberated upon and is among our set of priorities

in making the world a better place.

You are advised to contact Mr. Jim Ovia of ZENITH BANK PLC, as

he is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your

Cheque / International Bank Draft of USD$500,000. This funds are in

Bank Draft for security purpose. It will be sent to you and you

can clear it in any bank of your choice.

Therefore, you should send him your full Name, telephone number, a

valid mailing address where you want him to send your Bank Draft to.

Contact Mr. Jim Ovia immediately for your Cheque:

Person to Contact: Mr. Jim Ovia

Email: jim.zenithbank.ovia1@gmail.com

*Making the world a better place*

Regards,

Department of Public Information, United Nations 2008

Anti-fraud resources: