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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: "John D. Buchanan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fedrsv@katamail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2012 07:21:37 -0700
Subject: Re: funds okay

Attn. To: Beneficiary

TRANSFER OF $3,906,420.00

We are pleased to inform you that your fund totaling Three Million Nine Hundred and Six Thousand, Four Hundred and Twenty US Dollars only ($3,506,420.00) have arrived and in the custody of International Remittance Unit of the Federal Reserve Dallas, Texas District Office (FRB TX). This fund is held pending the final liquidation of the fund to your receiving bank.

On the advice of Department of Homeland Security, We have to contact you for re-verification because we suspect someone is trying to divert your money into a new and different bank account that was submitted to us, after they made the final payment of $2,750 for fund release, which Homeland security suspected & rejected the payment, because there was no power of attorney from you in your name to that effect. More so, we received multiple beneficiaries, all requesting for change to the bank account mentioned. Please confirm if you are the owner or if you mandated anybody to claim the fund on your behalf with the account below.

Account name: komex LLC
Acc No : 7001591495
ABA No : 066004367
City National Bank
13500 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, Florida 33181, USA

The attachment is the power of attorney, they presented to us that you authorize the payment to be made to the above account. Confirm immediately to enable us comply with the remittance directive of the above mentioned sum to the new account as provided. Provide full details of you’re receiving Bank information for validation in your response.

To avoid further breach of security & risk, desist from contacting any individual on this issue, all communication should be directed to my office as mandated, to complete your transfer accordingly. Because of this suspicion, Homeland Security advised that the fund should not be transferred to the account until you were reached. This also informed why the final fee paid by this party was rejected by the legal department and the reason you have not received your payment.

Treat as urgent and Respond immediately.

John D. Buchanan
Senior Vice President,
General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
Federal Reserve Dallas, Texas District Office

Anti-fraud resources: