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: "Mr. Ben S. Bernanke" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bbernanke74@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2011 09:15:53 -0800
Subject: CONTRACT FUND CREDIT FROM FEDERAL RESERVE BANK BOARD USA

NEW YORK.
 
ATTENTION:
 
CONTRACT FUND CREDIT FROM FEDERAL RESERVE BANK BOARD USA
We received the instruction letter to credit $10.5million to your account .
We wish to let you know that all difficulties has been remove for the success of this contract fund to be credited into the your personal account.
Your response is required to enable us credit your account without further delay and you are also require to get back to us with the reconfirmation of your banking information for us to know whether what we have in our files is correct .This is to avoid crediting your fund into wrong account.
 
Kindly get back to me today also with the requested information below so that we can proceed on this matter as soon as possible.
 
1) Your full Name ,Bank, and Account number.
2) Phone, fax and mobile #.
3) Company name, position and address.
4) Profession, age and marital status.
5) Copy of int'l passport, driver’s license, or any valid ID card via e-mail attachment.
CONGRATULATION FOR YOUR CONTRACT FUND.
Please be fast on this matter.
 
Thanks and God bless you.
 
Regards,
Mr. Ben S. Bernanke.
Chairman Federal Reserve Bank New York,

Anti-fraud resources: