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: "MR. MAMOOUD HASSAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mamooud.hassan@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 03:52:13 -0700
Subject: RE : GOOD NEWS.

Attention: Valuable Contractor/Beneficiary,
 
Sir/Madam,
 
This message is to acquaint you officially regarding a compensation payment to all scammed victims round the world value at $4.5m (Four Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollar Only) approved by the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F) under the auspices of the Debt Management Office (D.M.O) of the federal government of Nigeria (F.G.N).
 
Procedures: You are to forward to this honorable office the below data as soon as you receive this notification.
 
(1)     YOUR FULL NAMES.
(2)     ADDRESS.
(3)     DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBERS.
(4)     AN ATTACHED COPY OF YOUR PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION.
(5)     REAL BANK DETAILS.
 
 
Mode of payment : Be duly informed that there are two (2) payment options and is either you are paid via ATM MASTER CARD or BANK TO BANK TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER and is left for you to make your choice of payment as soon as possible and forward the above requested information to us for your payment proceeds.
 
Thanks for your understanding and strict compliance in this regard.
 
Sincerely,
 
Mr. Mamooud Hassan.
Debt Management Office (D.M.O).
 

Anti-fraud resources: