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: "Jacob Jack Lew" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pay1centre@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 12:18:07 +0100
Subject: Scam Alert: Don't be a Victim of Fraud

Department of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220
Text Only: +1 (323) 451-9718

Attention:,


We sincerely apologized for sending you this sensitive information via e-mail instead of a certified mail, post-mail, phone or physic conversation, I want you to know we are fully aware of numerous internet scam going on overseas and how much people have lost while trying to receive what belongs to them. After our meeting with IMF and United Nations top officials we have decided to pay you the total sum of US$10.5million as compensation fund financed by World Bank Swiss and this fund will be payout to you via wire transfer by our accredited Bank (People’s United Bank).

Note: this transaction is 100% legal and risk free and all the payment arrangement have been made here in the states and will be executed here in the states, this is to make sure you receive your fund without any hitch whatsoever and we have adequate facility to remit this fund into your account without any hitch. Therefore you are advice to verify the below information to avoid paying wrong person:

Full Name:
Address:
Age
Occupation:
Phone:
Attach Copy of your
ID:

Upon the receipt of the above information we will verify and forward to the People’s United Bank for immediate payment to be made into your account.

Thanks for your understanding and co-operation. God bless you.

Regards,
Jacob Jack Lew
Secretary The Treasury Department
Email: treasury_department@secretarias.com

Anti-fraud resources: