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: "FNB" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <hendricknell@live.co.za>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 2014 13:08:06 -0800
Subject: Fnb Info

ATTENTION,

THERE ARE TWO GENTLEMEN WHO CAME TO OUR BANK THIS MORNING, CLAIMING THAT THEY ARE YOUR
REPRESENTATIVES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUNDS (IMF) AND THE WORLD BANK
BENEFICIARY ALLOWANCE PAYMENT ($3.5 MUSD ONLY).

ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE ALREADY SUBMITTED YOUR ACCOUNT INFORMATIONS WHERE THEY CONFIRMED
YOU WANT YOUR ALLOWANCE PAYMENT OF $3.5, MUSD TO BE TRANSFERED, BUT WE REALLY WANT TO
INFORM YOU BEFORE WE GO AHEAD TO MAKE THIS TRANSFER BECAUSE THIS DEPARTMENT WAS JUST
SET UP FOR THESE PURPOSE, AND WE WILL BE CONCLUDING WITHIN 7 WORKING DAYS. THEREFORE
WE REALLY WANT TO FINALIZE THIS TRANSFER BEFORE THE DEMISE OF THE MANDATED 7 WORKING
DAYS.

PLEASE COMMUNICATE WITH US FASTER TODAY.

YOURS FAITHFULLY,

YOURS FAITHFULLY,
MR.NEL HENDRICK MARTINUS
HEAD OFFICER, FIRST NATIONAL BANK
JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA

Anti-fraud resources: