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: Wells Fargo Bank NA <deborahsmith@wellefago.com>
Reply-To: <deborah.smith@wellefago.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 07:51:02 -0400
Subject: PAYMENT REF: AU/CBN/ WFB/ V211/12



--
Wells Fargo Bank
12 East 49th Street,
New York, NY 10017

PAYMENT REF: AU/CBN/ WFB/ V211/12.

Good day,

This department of Wells Fargo Bank was instructed to remit the total
sum
of $12,000,000.00 on your behalf as your payment hold by African Union
and
Central Bank of Nigeria.

Be informed that your fund is ready for immediate transfer upon
Presentation of Payment Gateway transaction reports (PGTR) the required
document is not in your file.

Considering the scheduled time for this transfer, accordingly I have
communicated with the appropriate authority in CBN Nigeria responsible
for
issuance of the aforementioned document to prompt transfer into your
account.

They have consented to get this issued within the next 24 hours to pave
way for transfer of the already programmed fund in our system. Hence,
they
instructed that you send US$199.00 being issuance fee for the document.

The transfer effects immediately as we confirm the following.

1 The direct telephone numbers of your account manager who will confirm
the receipt in your account.

2 Forward the payment receipt with the receiving bank account
information
of yours to us for immediate transfer of your fund.

I enclose hereunder the receiver's information as provided by the
issuing
body:

Receiver's Name: Adebayo Soile
Address: Lagos, Nigeria.
Amount: $199.00

Sincerely,

Deborah Smith
Wells Fargo Bank
12 East 49th Street,
New York, NY 10017

Anti-fraud resources: