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: "First Trust Bank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <robertgreen_firsttrustbnk@accountant.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:05:10 +0100
Subject: INSTRUCTION TO PAY YOU.

First Trust Bank UK
4 Queen's Square, Belfast, BT1 3DJ.
http://www.firsttrustbank.co.uk
+447 045741334

Dear Customer,

RE: INSTRUCTIONS on how TO CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT WITH THE SUM OF US$5,800,000.00

We at this bank wish to congratulate and inform you that after thorough review of your Inheritance/Contract funds transfer release documents in conjunction with the Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund assessment report, your payment file was forwarded to us for immediate transfer of a part-payment US$5,800,000.00 to your designated bank account from their offshore account with us.


The Audit reports given to us shows that you have been going through hard times by paying a lot of money to see to the release of your funds, which has been delayed by some dubious officials.

We therefore advice that you stop further communication with any correspondence outside this office since you do not have to pay any money or fee to receive your funds as you have met up with the whole funds transfer requirements.

We will give you guidelines on how to transfer your funds online.

For further details and assistance on this Remittance Notification, kindly forward your FULL CONTACT ADDRESS, TELEPHONE and FAX NUMBERS directly to :Mr. Robert Green email: robertgreen_firsttrustbnk@accountant.com

Yours sincerely,
Jack Tompson
Information Officer,
First Trust Bank, UK.

Anti-fraud resources: