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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: "World Bank©" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ecobankpaymaster@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 May 2014 00:46:13 +0100
Subject: Urgent Notification of Your Payment.

Dear Sir/Madam,
           
We have been instructed to contact you and notify you that your unpaid fund of US$10.5 Million Dollars have been approved to be released to you through ECO Bank Plc, Burkina Faso. Your release Code is CMPFD93014, and your Approval No. is COMP0498830314. Having received these vital payment numbers, you're therefore approved of all clearance to receive your outstanding/unpaid fund of US$10.5 Million Dollars as soon as possible. This fund is 100% genuine and legitimate.
    
We have mandated ECO Bank, Burkina Faso to issue you a Prepaid Visa Card which you will use to withdraw this US$10.5 Million Dollars from any ATM machine in your country. This payment method is designed by World Bank to enable you receive this fund without given out your bank details to anybody over the internet. So, you are strongly advised to contact Mr. Vincent Bayala of ECO Bank, Burkina Faso on his open access email contact address: EcoBankPaymaster@Gmail.com  and send him this release code CMPFD93014 which will empower him to finalize and issue you this Prepaid Visa Card to enable you receive it and start using it to withdraw your US$10.5 Million Dollars from any ATM machine in your country. Tell Mr. Vincent Bayala that you receive this message from the World Bank mandating yo! u to contact him to claim your app
               
Thanks for adhering to this instruction and once again, accept our congratulations..
     
Manish Bapna,
Director, Bank Information Center
World Bank Group.
1818 H Street, NW
Washington, DC 20433 USA.

Anti-fraud resources: