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: "Federal Reserve Bank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <general.info@xtra.co.nz>
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2015 11:33:52 -0500
Subject: Re: Dear Beneficiary

Dear Beneficiary,
 
I am Janet L. Yellen, the newly-sworn Chair, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank. You will get more information about me here. http://www.federalreserve.gov/aboutthefed/bios/board/yellen.htm
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/new-fed-chief-janet-yellen-has-long-history-of-breaking-barriers/2014/02/02/9e8965ca-876d-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html
 
I have made it my first point of call since taking office to settle all compensation outstanding payments accrued to individuals/corporations with respect to local and overseas contract payment,
 
debt re-scheduling and outstanding compensation payment. This is to make sure all outstanding payments are settled.
 
I have your file here in my office and it says that you are yet to receive your fund valued at $10,500,000 (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars only) as compensation
 
outstanding payment owed to you. This money will now be transferred to your nominated bank account or your preferred payment option.
 
You are advised to kindly reply this email with the below details enclosed to our customer care below to help us process your payment;
 
Contact Customer Care: Daniel K. Tarullo
Email: general.info@xtra.co.nz
 
(1) Full Names:
(2) Residential Address:
(3) Current Phone Number:
(4) Age:
(5) Country of Residence:
(6) Occupation:
 
Thanks for your co-operation as I wait to hear from you.
 
Janet L. Yellen
Chair, U.S. Federal Reserve Bank
 
Note: The information contained in this e-mail is private & confidential and may also be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify us, preferably by e-mail, and do
 
not read, copy or disclose the contents of this message to anyone.

Anti-fraud resources: