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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: Commonwealth Countries <commonwealth.inves@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2011 02:17:27 -0800
Subject: Prompt Payment

*Foreign Debts' Commission (FDC)/Commonwealth Commission on Foreign
Debts(CCF)
*

Our Ref: FDC/CW/WB/PC/UNO1X48/2011.

Attn: Sir/ Madam

*Re-Payment Notification
*
Following incessant complaints by some foreign contractors on the delays of
their contract/ inheritance payment by African Governments after years of
successful execution/completion of their contracts, it was resolved between
the Commonwealth Head of Governments/African governments and the
International bodies (The World Bank, Paris Club and United Nations
Organizations) to transfer the payment of all foreign debts including the
payment of inheritance to this commission coordinated by the World Bank
officials. This commission will, among other things,appoint verification
bodies/scrutinize and also recommends for payment. Beneficiaries whose
debts are cleared for payment will be paid through one of the World Bank
affiliated institutions and accredited banks in Malaysia, Switzerland,
United Kingdom and USA within 48 hours.

To facilitate the smooth operations of this commission, beneficiaries have
been grouped in batches. The beneficiaries, whose names appeared in the
first batch and were cleared, have been fully and successfully paid.
Therefore, the second batch of beneficiaries short listed for payment have
just commenced today, the 15th of December 2011 and will last for one month
only. Therefore, to qualify for payment, you are required to forward:



1) Your full name:

2) Your full contact address:

3) Country of origin:

4) Nationality:

5) Current phone no: Fax: no.................

6) Present Occupation:

7) Your due amount for payment...

8) The year of the due payment:

9) Any document(s) to back your payment claims (send scan copy in its
original color)


This information is immediately required for our internal verification
purposes and must agree with our records. We wish to reiterate here that
this commission is the only competent medium for your payment as our
attention has been drawn to counter claims flying there and here. We advise
you to jettison those claims in your own interest. Also, we advise you to
cooperate with this commission to ensure speedy delivery of service as we
are working under a strict time frame. Therefore, delay in carrying out
directives will not be entertained, as this is capable of impeding our
speed of operations. And finally, we wish to re-emphasize again that
beneficiaries who are cleared for payment by this commission will be paid
through the financial institutional affiliates of our accredited banks in
Malaysia, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA within 48 hours.

Yours Faithfully,



Henry Bellingham
Designate
Chairman, African Union, Commonwealth Commission on Debt /World Bank Debt
Commission.

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