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. Wash Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wash_smith777@one.co.il>
Date: Sat, 7 May 2011 02:54:47 -0400
Subject: NEW PAYMENT NOTIFICATION

American Authority Payment Clearance (AAPC)
Sherman, TX

Attn: Beneficary,
I am Mr. Wash Smith working with American Authority Payment Clearance (AAPC) regarding to your delay payment.
The above office was contacted by the New regime in African and European Banks to assist them in handling their
foreign payments schemes because of the High level of corruption that has infected officials.

This order was further consolidated by the world Bank after receiving several complaints from various contractors and
beneficiaries owed by the some African and other European Banks.

The Africans and Europeans has made provision for $650million USD for this year of May/June 2011 to be disbursed to
respective beneficiaries after strict identification of person and cause of payment.

Some beneficiaries gained in this exercise some 6months ago when it was first initiated. Hence I now write you to
negotiate a reasonable settlement for respective contractors and beneficiaries which has been agreed to be 50% of
your original payment as the money already in provision will not suffice to pay all the contractors, Loan, Next of Kin and
also Unclaimed Lottery Winning Money.

I understand you like many others have waited long for your payments and has probably lost a lot of money in the
cause of trying to receive your payment to fraudulent African/European officials, Banks, Lawyers etc.

We are sorry about this and will like to amend the situation in a favorable manner. We propose a 50% settlement to be
released to you. However we cannot impose this settlement upon you as it is not by force, you are required to accept
this immediate settlement or forward your complaints to us that will be attending to your issues to this.

If you will be accepting the 50% offer, you are therefore required to provide the following information below to
crosscheck with our records and initiate your final settlement.

1. Full names.
2. Home Address.
3. Company Name and address (if any).
4. Amount owed.
5. Origin of payment.
6. Any means of identification.
7. Telephone, mobile and fax number.

Please note that if you accept this settlement and provide the required information your payment will be released under
the next 2 working days after verification of your details.

Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Wash Smith.
American Authority Payment Clearance (AAPC)

Anti-fraud resources: