419 scam: "Mr. Timothy Geithner" <officemail@ustreasury.org> UNITED STATE TREASURY DEPARTMENT

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "central bank of nigeria" (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.

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. Timothy Geithner" <officemail@ustreasury.org>
Reply-To: <unitedstatestreasuryoffice@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 12 Jul 2010 08:08:43 -0700
Subject: UNITED STATE TREASURY DEPARTMENT

UNITED STATE TREASURY DEPARTMENT
Main Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington D.C 20220.USA.

Good day to you, We have received all your forwarded payment documentations from the Central Bank of Nigeria(CBN) accordingly, the Treasury Department Board of Directors has verified all your documents and we have one missing document which might bring a little delay in your funds transfer to you from the US Treasury Department.

The missing document is your TAX Summary certificate, You are advised to forward it to our office immediately to avoid any delays.

I wait to receive our request shortly.

Thanks and God Bless you.

Mr. Timothy Geithner.
Executive Secretary United States Treasury Department,
Main Treasury 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
Washington, D.C. 20220.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam