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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: "MENSHA BAAH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vabrawilson@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 01:45:36 -0800
Subject: Dear Beneficiary,

Dear Beneficiary,
 
My name is Mr. Patrick Williams , chairman (DEBT MANAGMENT OFFICE). I know
you must be surprised at this development, but I chose to tell you the
truth because of my sincere wish to treat every man, as I would expect
to be treated.
 
After thorough investigation on your payment file as directed by the
presidency, I discovered that it would take a long process for your
money to be released due to some irregularities detected in your file.
During our investigation, we found out that you have spent so much
money in trying to realize your payment, which did not even reflect in
your file, but I have an offer, which will at least help your
financial stand until you receive your payment. This offer is an
amount from federal government diplomatic compensation program. It is
a total sum of us$10,500.000. (Ten million, five hundred thousand
United States dollars only), which will be shared between you and I in
the ratio of 50%-50%.
 
This amount is not from your total payment sum or has anything related
to your payment, rather I was instructed by the president to give a
final clearance to some listed diplomats who supported him before he
was sworn into office as the new president after the death of our
former president for their endorsement of the whole process for a
token of appreciation and also still needs their support for next
years elections. I am offering you this because I have seen that your
fund will not be released on time until all the anomalies are
rectified.
 
The only thing needed for these US$10.5 million to be transferred into
your account under 48 hours is follows;
 
A BANK ACCOUNT DETAIL, WHICH WILL BE NEEDED TO NORMALIZE THE ACCOUNT
IN THE FEDERAL HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE AS A DIPLOMATIC ACCOUNT.
 
Information requires as follows:
 
1) YOUR FULL NAME:
2) ADDRESS, CITY, STATE AND COUNTRY:
3) PHONE, FAX AND MOBILE:
4) COMPANY NAME (IF ANY) POSITION AND ADDRESS:
5) BANK NAME & ADDRESS:
BANK ACCOUNT NO:
ROUTING NO:
SWIFT CODE:
 
6) PROFESSION, AGE AND MARITAL STATUS:
7) COPY OF YOUR INT'L PASSPORT/DRIVERS LICENSE:
 
For your information, this is not a contract payment. Therefore there
will be no bureaucracy or misfortune.
 
Please note that if you are willing to make this deal with me, you
should contact me immediately on this E-mail address:
williams.patrick132@gmail.com and furnishing me with your account information.
Also be informed that this transaction will take us just 72 hours to
accomplish.
 
Yours truly,
 
Mr. Patrick Williams (chairman)
E-mail: williams.patrick132@gmail.com
 

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