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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: "MR. TIMOTHY F GEITHNER" <mr.timothygeithner@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: mr.timothygeithner@ymail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Sep 2011 06:50:46 -0400
Subject: DEPARTMENT OF INT'L AFFAIRS


DEPARTMENT OF INT'L AFFAIRS
(Office of the Under Secretary)
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue NW,
Washington D.C. 20220.
Urgent Attention,

I am Mr.Timothy F. Geithner, Under Secretary for International Affairs of the
United States Treasury Department and was sworn in as the 75th Secretary of
the United States Department of the Treasury in a ceremony attended by
President Barack H. Obama, and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. , see below:
http://www.treas.gov/organization/bios/geithner-e.shtml

Following series of complains from Citizens of the United States as well as
Citizens of Other Countries In Europe over the Discrepancies and fraudulent
ways in which fund transfers are handled by Africans which has made it
impossible for a lot of People to claim their Winning or Inheritance funds
from most African Countries due to frauds and illegal activities, A decision
was reached recently by the United States Treasury Department under the
authority of the White House to compel African Financial bodies (Banks) to
urgently release all funds of American and European citizens that are trapped
in most Banks and Courier Companies in Africa. It was discovered that some
bureaucratic bottlenecks was put by these Banks and Couriers to make it
impossible for beneficiaries to claim their funds so that they will
fraudulently divert those funds to their private accounts.

Consequent upon the aforementioned, I was personally mandated to handle this
matter to ensure that all funds of our Citizens and others which are
fraudulently being trapped in African Banks are urgently retrieved and paid to
the actual Beneficiaries under a legal manner. Our team of experts were
delegated to Benin Republic, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Ghana for this task and
we discovered your File NO: BR227/9005666/00 as unclaimed fund.It was
discovered that officials of the Bank has only put up illegal requirements in
order to make it difficult for you to claim your fund. The United States
Department of Treasury has retrieved all Files of illegal transactions and we
will be working under a legitimate arrangement to ensure that you follow the
normal process to receive your fund. You are requested to Re-confirm the
following information to Barr.Fabulous Harris by
e-mail(fabulousharris@ymail.com)

1. SURNAME............
2. OTHER NAMES................
3. PHONE NUMBER AND FAX......
4. ADDRESS...........
5. AMOUNT TO BE CLAIMED: $18.500,000.00 USD

Be informed that the above information will only enable us to make due
confirmation. We shall ensure that normal process is followed to ensure that
your fund gets to you without delay.Contact Barr.Fabulous Harris who is right
in Benin Republic as the Legal Practitioner to United States Department of
Treasury e-Mail below:(fabulousharris@ymail.com) Call Barr.Fabulous Harris on his
phone for urgent attention:

Warm Regards
Mr. Timothy F. Geithner
(Under Secretary).

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