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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: "Don Maxi Martins" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <uneumunit115@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:47:55 -0400
Subject: Your Recovered Funds ++++ **** %^

Your Recovered Funds

A joint effort instigated by a coalition of international monetary institutions with the help of Interpol has
been able to track down diverted funds of foreign contractors and inheritance beneficiaries mostly from
Africa and Europe. We have been working with other financial monetary institutions all over the globe
and have entered agreement with the governments of the countries were these funds originated from.

In our fight to ensure that innocent hardworking people such as yourself are not taken advantage off by
scammers who claim to want to transfer huge sums of money to you all in the guise of defrauding you
of your hard-earned funds, we found out that you are not a victim of one of the several scams but, you
are a victim of fund theft/diversion.

You are among the list of the victims of corrupt government officials and bank staffs in Europe and
Africa. These corrupt individuals and institutions are being investigated and prosecuted while
arrangements has been concluded between the country where these funds originated from, World
Bank, IMF, EU, UN, and Interpol on the safest and most secure means of getting the funds to the
rightful beneficiaries.

The above mentioned institutions have agreed that the best way to effectively monitor and ensure that
the funds gets to the beneficiary is to deposit the funds with a foreign financial institution that has no
connection with the country of origin of funds. Upon satisfactory clearance from all parties involved,
including the Apex Bank of the country of origin of your funds, these funds will then be made available
via an approved European bank through a direct beneficiary access ACCOUNT opened in the name of
the beneficiary. You will be given an account access code and you will have 100% control of your funds
and make online transfer of your funds from any of the above-mentioned banks to your bank in your
country.


Most of the corrupt officials which includes, lawyers, bank staffs, government officials, claim that they
were given instructions by you to channel this fund to a different account for investment purpose and
they claim that they are in partnership with you. We would like to know if you entered into an
agreement with any official or representative to use your funds for investment purposes? If yes, then
you stand to face sanctions because due process was not observed when a change of your nominated
bank account was made.

You unknowingly violated financial laws by agreeing to have your funds paid to a different account from
your nominated account without obtaining a Change of Ownership.

You may be required to pay a penalty as the case may be. You are required to send us the following if
you did not enter into any agreement with officials or representative to divert your funds to a different
account for possible investment.

1.Your full name:
2.Your address:
3.Your telephone numbers (Fax, Mobile, Office and Home #):
Source of Funds: i.e. Contract payment, Inheritance
4.Amount:
5. Country of origin of funds.
6.Your passport photograph (will be used to open an online account in your name)
7.All documents pertaining to your funds if they are still available:
Take note that we hope to conclude all payments before the next UN meeting.

You are therefore advised to treat as urgent by contacting us via our email address:
jbelka.interpol.dir@gmail.com


Yours faithfully,
Don Maxi Martins
UN/EU FRAUD MONITORING UNIT

Anti-fraud resources: