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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: "New Accountant-General of West Africa" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <otunlajonah2@superposta.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 10:54:13 -0500
Subject: ABOUT YOUR PAYMENT SETTLEMENT

Swift Code: BPH KPL PK,
A/C#: 329606=101244=169=678
Attn: Benficiary,

I am the newly appointed Accountant-General with WEST AFRICAN MONETARY AGENCY (WAMA) .I resumed duty as the New Accountant-General.I want to start tackling with debts owed by my West African Region for settlement.Though I do not know when all these debts where incurred but I have been given the settlement task by African Presidents and I really want to settle all debts .

The past Professor Oladapo Afolabi Accountant-General tried but did not do completely well as in making sure that debts owed by our great countries were all settled before he got relieved . When this payment notification was forwarded to my humble office, I decided to contact you for immediate payment in an international bank draft payable to you or bank to bank wire transfer to any choice of your account in your name.

Consequently, the above office have been instructed to pay without any further delay the creditors who have shown sufficient proof regarding the release of their fund, and I wish to inform you that in our record I discovered that you have fulfilled such conditions. Reconfirm the following informations below in your next mail for the proper verification and clarification before we can proceed.

1) Your full name and address
2) Phone Number.
3) Company name.


Best Regards,
Mr. Jonah Otunla.
New Accountant-General of West Africa


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