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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: "WORLD BANK GROUP" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mailmeworld.bank@rediffmail.com>
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:37:27 -0500
Subject: Did You Authorize Him ?

THE WORLD BANK REP WORLD BANK GROUP 78 / 79 LAGOS NIGERIA EMAIL: mailmeworld.bank@rediffmail.com SEND REPLY TO : mailmeworld.bank@rediffmail.com Attention, We recently hold a World global meeting on all international transaction with an FBI agent from the United States of America, A sheriff from Spain in Europe, a metropolitan police representative from London, United Kingdom and some strong top officials from some notorious countries in Africa, we did all this because thisis a new year and we are working to get this transaction delivered to you as first transaction for the year 2013, we will get this done as soon as you comply with our new instruction, but you must please stop all further communication with who so ever my have been telling you lies on this transaction. Here is our conclusion after the meeting. We have condemned and stopped some banks from working on all international transaction because most of this bank were not authorized to handle any international transaction and they are presently using it as an opportunity to embezzle from our customer, getting so many unnecessary fee from them to be paid upfront and many more that you are already aware about. We have now stopped the below banks from having to release your transaction to you as they can never get it done. (1) FIRST BANK PLC NIGERIA (2) UNION BANK (3) BARCLAY BANK (4) CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA (5) BANK OF AFRICA (6) UNITED BANK OF AFRICA (UBA ) We are still working to stop some more of this banks, therefore you have to stop all further communications with who ever you are presently dealing with in any of the above mentioned bank or banks not yet mentioned. WHAT TO BE DONE. We have now programmed to transfer your funds to any bank of your choice in your country and the total sum of $16.8 million will be transferred electronically from the World Bank branch in Africa to your designated bank of choice as scheduled. But this is the funny part of this matter, i received a letter from a man using a similar surname with you and was claiming that you are no more alive and that he is your next of kin and we have to work with him to release your funds to him, i will not mention name yet until i receive all information's from you that you are alive and you could even talk to me directly on my phone... IS THIS TRUE...?????????? if this is true, i know you will not respond back, but if this is total false, i will surely hear back from you with the needed information asked below. You have to quickly respond back to me today and let me know what to do about this matter because we have limited time to spend on this issue. SEND REPLY TO : mailmeworld.bank@rediffmail.com 1. YOUR FULL NAME: 2. YOUR HOME ADDRESS: 3. YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER: 4. A SCANNED COPY OF YOUR I:D CARD/DRIVERS LICENSE 5 .OCCUPATION: 6 .SEX : 7. AGE: Once confirmed, i will send you the documents signed with all the above mentioned banks and the file that is due to be signed immediately and we shall ask you to tell us how you want your funds to be released to you. Main-while, it is mandated that an account is setup for you here under the World Bank Branch. Mrs. Doris Agbabiaka World Bank Representative

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