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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: "PR Financial Intelligence Unit" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <accounts@verifiedbyswiftnet.com>
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 14:22:36 -0500
Subject: DEBT RECONCILIATION ORDER/UNCLAIMED FUNDS!!

Dear Sir/ Madam,

The Foreign Exchange Transfer Department Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait has decided to bring to our attention that you were listed as a beneficiary in their recent schedule for payment of outstanding debts incurred by the BRITISH GOVERNMENT pending since 2005 to 2013 According to their records as indicated, a pending amount of funds was attached to your email address and was found in the outstanding payment archive re-approved for wire-transfer for this month.

Your payment is now categorized as:

Contract Type: Inheritance/Unpaid Contract Funds/ Undelivered Lottery Fund/Charity Fund/ Next of Kin/ Unpaid Loan etc.

Payment File: BBK/CF1633/013. Payment Amount: 2,500, 000.00 GBP Two Million Five Hundred Great British Pounds.

We, the global provider of secure financial messaging services (SWIFT) with Bank of Bahrain had a meeting with urgent consideration of your payment which by regulation, was supposed to be in your personal account last year, but some how along the line there was a mistake which hinder the good and purposeful result towards proper calculation for this transaction by the Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, regarding unclaimed funds due for individual collection, we further discussed and conclude in the meeting that all unclaimed funds must be release to the beneficiary as a compensation from the British Government; it is an unfair practice to withhold an individual’s funds in a government basket for one reason or the other for tax accumulations.

Therefore, we are writing this mail to inform you that your funds of 2,500,000.00 Great British Pounds respectively is categorized as compensation, and it will be release and transferred to your bank account in your name as soon as you have been approved by this office after verification; kindly note you have to obtain the necessary approval to back-up your approved funds successfully from the paying bank.


Note the following information listed are required for verification, and you must provide them completely.


PROVIDE THE DETAILS BELOW FOR VERIFICATION:

1. Full Names:
2. Residential Address:
3. Mobile Number:
4. Occupation:
5. Sex:
6. Age:
7. Country:
8. State:
9. Marital Status
10. Scan copy of your driver’s license

NOTE. For security reasons and preservation of this funds to you, you are hereby required to keep all your funds corresponding details confidential, to secure your funds and to avoid double claims and unwarranted third party because if there is any call for double claims or unwarranted third party You are going to be disqualified from receiving the total funds; You are not authorized to disclose any of your funds corresponding details to anybody until this funds is credited to your local bank account successfully.


Kind regards,
Mr. Larry Maxwell
PR Financial Intelligence Unit

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