joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Zenith Funds Services" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ubagroup@superposta.com>
Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 04:56:50 +0100
Subject: Attention Beneficiary

 
Zenith Funds Services Ltd
National Vault Services
Attention Beneficiary
We are Diplomats. We arrange for the safekeeping of special and valuable packages and baggage in trust for reputable clients. We provide our services for top firms and Governments of various countries as we have earned a name as service provider whose hallmarks in reliability and confidentiality are reputable.
International missions,Diplomats and Embassies including expatriates have used our services to satisfaction. A benefactor whose identity can not be disclosed now because of the Non Circumvention and Non Disclosure Agreement that was signed with the said benefactor when the funds were being deposited, made you the beneficiary of a package containing some amount of money and stated clearly that you should only be contacted when the time signed for it to be in our care elapses, and the time has already elapsed and that is why you are being contacted at this time.
The Non Circumvention and Non Disclosure Agreement signed with the depositor mandates us to fully divulge and disclose his identity immediately you, the beneficiary, have received the funds. The funds totals 10.5Million U.S. Dollars and we confirm that these funds are fully free of any liens, or encumbrances and are clean and of non-criminal origin and are available. The fund has been approved for release by our management and will be be sent to you in cash through our diplomatic channel. You are therefore enjoined to send your direct phone number and the nearest airport to your city of residence where one of our diplomats and our representative will contact you as soon as he lands with the consignment. Congratulations in advance.
Raymond Njoku (Head,Operations)
 
 

Anti-fraud resources: