419 scam: "Federal Ministry of Finance"<info@fmfinance.org> Hello Beneficiary, are you aware of this payment to Mr. John Wheeler?

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:
- "nigeria national petroleum corporation" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a next of kin scam.

Fraud email example:

From: "Federal Ministry of Finance" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fed_ministry_nig@gazeta.pl>
Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2011 23:11:02 +0800
Subject: Hello Beneficiary, are you aware of this payment to Mr. John Wheeler?

Federal Ministry of Finance
101 Aso Rock Way, Abuja
Nigeria

Hello Beneficiary,

This is just to inquire and confirm the truth from you, my name is Dr. Olusegun O. Aganga and Minister of Finance, actually you have an unclaimed payment of $10.5millionusd in our custody that was Willed to you by one of our contractors who did a contract with Nigeria National Petroleum Corporations whose name is Late Mr. George W. Wilson. He Willed the money to your name with this email address to contact you but I have now received a letter that your unclaimed $10.5millionusd is now to be claim by Mr. John Wheeler (a United States citizen) as your Next of Kin.

In his letter which is a change of beneficiary/ownership, it is said that you are dead and that he is your next of kin, it went further to say you have signed a Deed and an agreement with him to become your next of kin. But because of the elaborate global scam and internet fraud we encounter daily, I decided to contact you first for reconfirmation and if after seven working days there is no response received from you, it will be assumed that you are truly dead and the authorization and approval will be granted to Mr. John Wheeler to claim and receive your inheritance from Late Mr. George W. Wilson.

But if this is false and you are well and alive then confirm this mail and reconfirm your Information and how you want your inheritance fund to be paid to you without further delay.

Send your responses by email only.

Below is the information you are expected to re-confirm.

Full Name:
Address:
Nationality/Country:
Sex:
Age:
Occupation:
Personal/Direct Phone No:
Any copy of Identity:

I hope to hear very soon from you.

Sincerely,

Dr. Olusegun O. Aganga (Minister of Finance)
Federal Ministry of Finance

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam