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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: "Finance Minister" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jack-lew@minister.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Jun 2013 01:03:55 -0400
Subject: Transaction Data Authentication

From: The US Finance Minister | Secretary of the Treasury
Annex 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20220
____________________________________________________
 
Our Ref: USA/TREAS/898ATCP
Your File Code No: JUNE/3157/182
 
Message To: Sole Beneficiary
 
The Treasury Department performs a critical and far-reaching role in enhancing national security by implementing economic sanctions against foreign financial threats imposed to the U.S citizens and to the affected citizens of other countries, identifying and targeting the financial support networks of national security threats, and improving the safeguards of our financial systems for the benefit of their consumers.
 
List of identified fund beneficiaries yet to be paid the sum of $15,000,000.00 USD from various international government agencies and financial institutions are more than 700 in number and our extensive investigation has shown that there are unclaimed money discovered in the United Kingdom and in Nigeria ranging from $100,000.00 USD to $500,000,000.00 USD. Prior to this development, we have made efforts in appealing to most international government agencies to release and pay out the withheld/unpaid funds on merit directly to its international beneficiaries account.
 
As one of the affected individuals, we have investigated your case and have been approved to provide you with guidelines on the requirements needed to be submitted before you are paid. Therefore, you are advised to provide your direct reachable telephone number and the details of your residential address for document postal delivery. This is necessary due to the strict monetary regulations applied globally and if the enlisted details are not provided or given instructions are not completed based on our recommendation, any attempt made by you to secure funds directly through other international government agencies without our consent will be nullified.
 
Get back to us as soon as possible.
 
Best regards,
 
Mr Jack Lew, US Finance Minister | Secretary of the Treasury
Tel 202-622-2000 ext.11, Fax 202-478-0979
Annex 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20220
E-mail contact: jack-lew@minister.com
____________________________________________________
Disclaimer: The information in this email and in any files transmitted with it, is intended only for the addressee and contains confidential and/or privileged material. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete the material from your computer. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is strictly prohibited.

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