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"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: "Kevin Favreau" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <statesfbi.gov@live.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Nov 2010 00:04:47 +0100
Subject: Your Payment Notification

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONETARY CRIME DIVISION
FBI HEADQUARTERS WASHINGTON, D.C.
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON,
D.C. 20535-0001 USA
 
CC. Interpol Organization Zurich
CC. International Monitory Fund
CC. Homeland Security NYC
CC. Economic and Financial Crime Commission
CC. World Bank Group
 
My fellow citizen, we noticed that you are yet to receive your payment from your said inheritance/Contract transactions from Africa. Well I want to encourage and inform you as well that you are one step away from your payment.
However, fill the information bellow and you will gladly receive your payment from the approved paying bank in London U.K. This transaction has been secured with personal identification computerized sealed Numbers, Contract Accreditation Pin No, Transfer Access Code (TAC) and Diplomatic Immunity Seal of Transfer(DIST) document to enable us identify the bonafide beneficiary and to avoid diversion of the fund to wrong account.
You are hereby advised to furnish us with the following details to ensure that your payment is secured.
 
Full name ….
Address …
Sex…
Marital Status…
Nationality…
Your Bank name and address…
Your Bank account, telex and routing number…
Contact Telephone number…
Details of transaction…
Rest assured that on the receipt of the said details, we will instruct the bank where the money was deposited at the moment to process all the documentations for the release of the fund to your nominated bank account.
.We will wait to have the above stated information to enable us proceed.
Yours in Service,
Agent Kevin Favreau
Washington Field Office (FBI)

Anti-fraud resources: