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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "IMF REGIONAL OFFICE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <regionaloffice_imf@skymail.mn>
Date: Sat, 31 Mar 2012 00.05.31 +0200
Subject: Intercepted Fund Transfer Notification

IMF PENDING PAYMENT APPROVED
>From The Desk of Mr. Wayne Mitchell (MONITORING TEAM)
African Regional Department building
International Monetary Fund (I.M.F),
www.imf.org
 
 
Dear Sir/Madam,,
 
 
It has come to our notice in our Headquarters building (I.M.F) that your impending funds from Africa/Europe/Asia, which was intercepted, has not been released to you ,We noticed that you made several attempts to transfer your funds but to no avail. Our investigation continued to the African Department (I.M.F), the monitoring team gave an unsatisfactory report to your transaction; hence the chairman is presently under investigation for conspiracy with your representative with intensions to divert your funds.
 
You are advised to desist from contacting anyone including your agent or representative in this regard, International Monetary Fund has taken full responsibility to transfer your fund to you, respond to this mail by providing your full information below:
 
YOUR FULL NAME:
YOUR ADDRESS:
YOUR TELE/FAX NUMBER:
YOUR OCCUPATION:
YOUR AGE:
YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT COPY OR DRIVERS LICENSE COPY ( SCANED COPY )
Regards,
Mrs. Elizebeth Wallace
Tel:00233-267-240-4510
African Regional Department Director
 
 
It has come to our notice that you have been receiving emails from criminals who worked for some of these vital offices where your payment was originated saying your atm card have been approved, compensation fund approved, federal government of African countries have approved funds via office of the presidency, paymaster general have approved fund and diplomatic delivery approved to your favor, etc, please don't listen to this criminals because they want to divert your payment. waiting your reply.
 

Anti-fraud resources: