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: "Charles Gillum" <imf.updatefile@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 01 May 2014 13:18:34 +0100
Subject: ATTN: BENEFICIARY DEBT SETTLEMENT

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF)
IMF WORLD REGULATORY OFFICE
INTERNATIONAL FUNDS REGULATORY AUTHORITY
INTER-CONTINENTAL DEBT RECONCILIATION
(HQ1): UNITED KINGDOM.

ATTN: BENEFICIARY DEBT SETTLEMENT

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) has
jointly risen up to bail-out some countries of their
financial debt crisis consequent to debts owed to their
foreign contractors and inheritance payment entitlement in
accordance with the bilateral treaty reached with the Asian
Union and European leaders in the recently concluded, WORLD
BANK, IMF, Asian UNION LEADERS G20 SUMMIT held at
Washington, United States of America.

It may interest you to know that the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) office here in United Kingdom, has been mandated
in our recent meeting with the United Nation, African Union,
Asian Union Leaders, European Union, and all the security
Agencies including the FBI and Interpol to take charge and
monitor all foreign contract/inheritance payment to ensure
that beneficiaries receive their fund

In view of these developments you are advice to get back to
this office within 48hours to receive the approved US$10.5M.

I wait to receive your information together with copy of
your identification for Onward release of the approved
US$10.5M

I anticipate your earlier response.

Regards,
Mr. Charles Gillum
Tel:+447087644595

Anti-fraud resources: