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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: "Mr. Oka Braham Director" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <westernunionservice888@yahoo.fr>
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 20:14:49 -0700
Subject: Attention,

Attention,

The Federal Government of Benin through provisions in Section 419 of the Criminal Code came up with punitive measures to deter and punish offenders. The Advance Fee Fraud section deal mainly with cases of advance fee fraud (commonly called 419) such as obtaining by false pretence through different fraudulent schemes e.g. contract scam, credit card scam,

inheritance scam, job scam, loan scam, lottery scam, “wash” scam (money washing scam), marriage scam. Immigration scam, counterfeiting and religious scam. It also investigates cyber crime cases. This is to officially announce to you that some scam Syndicates were apprehended in Cotonou, Benin few days ago and after several interrogations and tortures your details were among those mentioned by some of the scam Syndicates as one of the victims of their operations.

After proper investigations and research at Western Union Money Transfer and Money Gram office to know if you have truly sent money to the scam Syndicates through Western Union Money Transfer or Money Gram, your name was found in Western Union Money Transfer database amongst those that have sent money through Western Union Money Transfer to Benin and this proves that you have truly been swindled by those unscrupulous persons by sending money to them in the course of getting one fund or the other that is not real, right now we are working hand in hand with Western Union and Interpol to track every fraudsters down, do not respond to their e-mails, letters and phone calls any longer they are scammers and you should be very careful to avoid being a victim to fraudsters any longer because they have nothing to Offer you but to rip-off what you have worked hard to earn.

In this regard a meeting was held between the Board of Directors of The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and as a consequence of our investigations it was agreed that the sum of Five hundred thousand US Dollars (US$500,000) should be transferred to you out of the funds that Federal Government of Benin has set aside as a compensation to everyone who have by one way or the other sent money to fraudsters in Benin. We have deposited your fund at Western Union Money Transfer agent location EMS Post office Cotonou, Benin. We have submitted your details to them so that your fund can be transferred to you.Contact the Western Union agent office through the email address stated below about this notification letter and the transfer of your fund;

Contact Mr. Tony White
Email: westernunionservice888@yahoo.fr
Total Claim (US$500,000)
+229 98258762.

Yours sincerely,
Mr. Oka Braham Director
Assistant Investigation Officer.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)
15A Akpakpa Road, Porto-Novo, Cotonou.Benin
http://www.efccbenin.org

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