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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: "Legal Attache" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <legalattachoffice@qq.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 14:11:14 -0800
Subject: PLEASE BE INFORMED

Office of the Legal Attache
US Consulate General
2, Walter Carrington Crescent
Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria
Contact: Legal Attache: (+234)-8178605725

Dear Beneficiary,

I am Special Agent, Jennifer Dent, the F.B.I.'s Assistant Legal
Attache in Lagos, Nigeria. As you must be aware, the Legal Attache
Office supports the operational needs in Lagos, Nigeria with regional
coverage of Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Equatorial Guinea, So Tome and
Principle and Togo. The cooperation activities performed by the Legal
Attach are essential to the successful fulfillment of the
international responsibilities of the FBI and United States interests.
Liaising is carried out in accordance with executive order, statue,
Attorney General Guidelines, and FBI policies.

I am writing you with regards to your stalled funds transfer you have
been expecting from Nigeria. For your interest, I would advise you to
accord this correspondence your full indulgence and attention, as you
may likely have been receiving other emails of similar contents from
the numerous fraud syndicate and impostors.

I was specially instructed by the U.S Attorney General to embark on a
personal review of all long pending and stalled International Funds
Transfer Files of all Banks Operating in Nigeria and the neighboring
countries, including those at Offshore Foreign Correspondent Banks,
with a view of redeeming genuine cases of Funds Transfers. The U.S
Attorney General’s Office has mandated my Office to ensure that all
genuine claim and transfers are paid to their rightful owners of which
you are among, after detail reviewed your information as one such
beneficiaries and our duty is protect your interest as a law abiding
citizen.

As the F.B.I.'s assistant legal attache in Lagos, Nigeria, I want to
assure you that your transfer will now be processed through the
simple, transparent and authoritative means where you will not be
required to pay any unauthorized fees. Please discontinue any form of
contact with all those you have been dealing with before now, no
matter the nature of your relationship with any of these crooks,
including your representative if any. My goal is to quickly reactivate
and sort out your transfer without any distraction. So you are
forbidden to preempt anyone of this contact, otherwise I will be
compelled to out rightly cancel your transfer along others a bad debt.

Your Valued Amount expected if other than the mentioned amount:
$3.5million USD.Your timely respond will be highly welcomed.

My Regards,
Jennifer Dent
Assistant Legal Attache

This email and any attachment is from the U.S. Office of the Legal
Attache and may contain confidential information. If you are not the
intended recipient because it was sent to you in error, you are not
authorized to reply, copy or disclose all or any part of it without
the prior written consent of Office of the Legal Attache

Anti-fraud resources: