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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: "Mr. James B.Comey." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <okata.okata@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 17:43:44 +1000
Subject: Attention:Sir,

Anti-Terrorist And Monetary Crimes Division
FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C.
Federal Bureau Of Investigation
J.Edgar Hoover Building
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, Nw Washington, D.C. 20535-0001
www.fbi.gov
Attention:Sir,
This e-mail has been issued to you in order to officially inform you that we Have completed
 
an investigation on an International Payment in which was Issued to you by an International
 
Lottery Company. With the help of our Newly developed technology (International Monitoring
 
Network System) we Discovered that your e-mail address was automatically selected by an
 
Online Balloting System, this has legally won you the sum of $2.8million USD  from a
 
Lottery Company outside the United States of America during our Investigation we discovered
 
that your e-mail won the money from an Online Balloting System and we have authorized this
 
winning to be paid to you via INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT.
 
Normally, it will take up to 3 to 5 business days for an INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT
 
by your local bank We have successfully notified this company on Your behalf that funds are
 
to be drawn from a registered bank within  the World winded, so as to enable you cash the
 
check instantly without any Delay, henceforth the stated amount of $2.8million USD has been
 
deposited With IMF.We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to
 
receive The winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to
be Safe  and 100% risk free, due to the fact that the funds have been deposited with  IMF
 
You will be required to settle the following bills directly to the Lottery Agent in-charge
 
of this transaction that is located in COTONOU, BENIN REPUBLIC According to our
 
discoveries, you were required to pay for the Following,
 
(1) Deposit Fee's (IMF INTERNATIONAL CLEARANCE CERTIFICATE)
(2) Shipping Fee's (This is the charge for shipping the Cashier's Cheque to your home
 
address)
The total amount for everything is $350 we have tried our possible best to Indicate that
 
this $350 should be deducted from your winning prize but we Found out that the funds have
 
already been deposited to the IMF and cannot be Accessed by anyone apart from you the
 
winner, therefore you will be required To pay the required fee's to the Agent in-charge of
 
this transaction.
In order to proceed with this transaction, you will be required to contact The agent
 
in-charge (Mr.Mark Ben) via e-mail Kindly look below to find Appropriate contact
 
information:
CONTACT AGENT NAME: MARK BEN
E-MAIL : okata.okata@aol.com
 
You will be required to e-mail him with the following information:
FULL NAME:
ADDRESS:
CITY:
STATE:
ZIP CODE:
DIRECT CONTACT
OCCUPATION:
You will also be required to request Western Union or Money Gram details on How to send the
 
required $350 in order to immediately ship your prize of $2.8million USD via INTERNATIONAL
 
CERTIFIED BANK DRAFT from IMF, also Include the following transaction code in order for him
 
to immediately Identify this transaction: EA2948-910.This letter will serve as proof that
 
the Federal Bureau Of Investigation is Authorizing you to pay the required $350 ONLY to
 
Mr.Mark Ben via Information in which he shall send to you,
THANKS FOR YOUR CO-OPERATION.
Yours in Service,
Federal Bureau of Investigation  Director (F B I)
Mr. James B.Comey.

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