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: "WORLD BANK GROUP" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <victoriabenson1122@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Tue, 27 Sep 2011 01:30:46 -0700
Subject: PAYMENT RELEASE NOTIFICATION.

From: Mrs. Victoria Benson
For:Secretary General
World Bank Group of auditors

Beneficiary,

This is to officially inform you that we have been appointed by the United State Government in conjuction with foreign investigative body i.e INTERPOL,CIA,FBI etc. to single handedly refund all scam affected victims back their scammed fund in which your name appears on the list of victims to be compensated,The united state government appointed this world bank department to officially verified and release your payment,if confirm legal.

You are hereby adviced to send the below information below;

YOUR FULL NAME:
YOUR ADDRESS:
TELEPHONE NUMBER/fax:
AMOUNT EXPECTED:
NEXT OF KIN:
DATE OF BIRTH
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:
RESIDENT COUNTRY:
PREVIOUS OCCUPACTION:
PRESENT OCCUPATION:
IDENTIFICATION CARD/INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT/DRIVERS LISENCE:

Authority to remit fund will be sent to you that you will fill and sign.This will be send to the payment centre.I will give you the fax number that you will send the form to.You should visit the website to confirm your name as the beneficiary of your claim: www.unclaimed.org.

We advise that all communication should be made by fax and phone,for security reason.This is because there is allot of scam activity on the internet.The officially approve fund on your name is $5.2 Million United State dollars.

We await your urgent respond on this regard.

Yours Faithfully.

Mrs Victoria Benson

SCAM RECOVERY AND PAYMENT BUREAU DEPARTMENT.


Secretary General
World Bank Group of auditors
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433 USA

Anti-fraud resources: