|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Accountant-General of the Federation" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <officeaccountantgeneral_fmf@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2013 11:13:34 +0100
Subject: ACCOUNTANT GENERAL YOUR PAYMENT
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL OF THE FEDERATION
GARKI ABUJA.NIGERIA
Our Ref: FGN/AGF/SH-VOL.04/2013
Attention: Beneficiary
I want to introduce myself to you first. I am Mr. Jonah OgunniyiOtunla from oyo state Nigeria. I graduated from Obafemi Awolowo University ile-ife with Bachelor Degree in Social Sciences. My public service career began in Oyo state when I was appointed Chief Internal Auditor Oyo State Agricultural Development programmer (World Bank assisted) in 1989 and left in 1997 as Director of Finance in 1997 when i was promoted to the position of the Accountant General of the state. In March 2004 i transferred my service to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) in Abuja. As a new Accountant General of the Federation, i attended several management development programmer and workshops some of them included: Towards Solving Auditing Problems in World Bank Assisted Programmer at Agric& Rural Development Institute (STMYI); Micro Computer Application For Agric Development at New Mexico State University, USA; Study Tour of I!
ndia/Britain; Total Quality Manage
I was now asked to handle the issues of payment between Nigeria and our foreign contractors. List of names was given to me after the meeting which was held yesterday and that is why am contacting you. If you have receive your contract payment please do not reply this message but if you have not then you respond along with your full information and contract amount so that we can commence with the arrangement at hand. If there is anybody that you are dealing with in CBN or anywhere in Nigeria you just have to put a stop to it because i want to handle this transaction on my own. You have to stop dealing with people who are just deceiving you that they are capable of transferring your money to you.
Yours Faithfully,
Jonah Otunla
The Accountant-General of the Federation
|
Anti-fraud resources:
