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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: "FinCEN USA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <usa.ffetf@superposta.com>
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2012 15:15:34 -0700
Subject: FUND RELEASE ALERT

WELCOME TOFINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
FINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK (FINCEN)
United States Department of the Treasury
1120 Connecticut Ave., NW. Network (FinCEN). Washington, DC USA
Read about us through the URL: (http://www.fincen.gov/
 
                      FUND RELEASE ALERT
 
Attn: Valued Fund Beneficiary,
This is to notify you officially that we received a valued amount of funds for credit instructions from the CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (CBN) of the federal government of Nigeria to credit your account with your full inheritance/contract in the sum of US$10.5million from the Nigerian Federal Reserve Bank Account with our bank, Federal Reserve board USA.
 
In order to expedite this credit instructions, we will need you to send us the following immediately
A) IRREVOCABLE PRESIDENTIAL RELEASE ORDER CERTIFICATE
b) CONTRACT DEED OF AGREEMENT BLUE PRINT
c) 3 YEARS TAX CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE FROM THE UNITED STATE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE (IRS.) i.e., past 3 years as the BENEFICIARY of this said fund.
 
We will affect this transfer as soon as we receive the above documents from you.
Your immediate attention is highly needed to enable us commence this credit transfer to your bank. If you do not have all the above documents, kindly contact us immediately Therefore, you are advice to reconfirm your particulars such as
Your full name
Your country
Mobile Phone #
Company's name, position and address
Profession, age and marital status
Copy of int'l passport or any scanned identity to prove you.
Expecting your prompt response
Yours in service
James H. Freis, Jr.
FinCEN Director
Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN)
U.S.A

Anti-fraud resources: