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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: "Bank E-mail ©" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <officialinfoemail@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 19:26:56 +0100
Subject: Alert

UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA
OUR REF: UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA/435/X0/027

RE: PAYMENT ON ACCRUED INTEREST OF US$1.5M

I am Mrs. Ruth Owusu, Head of Swift Transfer Unit of united bank for
Africa Some time ago, in our bank your payment was brought to our bank
from Apex Bank, and after some period, this money was taken back to the
Government treasury. For the period of time this money was in our bank, it
generated an interest of US$1.5 Million, which we are about to be pay to
you.

For your information and advice, you need to hasten up to pick this Fund
because from time to time the Apex Bank auditors do come to our bank to
cross-check our files and our financial update, the earlier you comply
with the demands of the transferring of the fund, the faster the action,
because the Apex Bank officials wants the accrued interest to be paid to
them but we refused, so when they find out that this interest fund is
still in our bank they will want to call back the money to the Government
treasury.

What we need from you now is any form of your identification for example;
your international passport or your driver's license, then your telephone
and fax number for easy communication with your receiving bank account
details.

As a matter of fact we don't have enough time to waste since we have
wasted time in contacting our respective customers, so try and comply with
the entire necessary requirement for remittance. Contact me on this email:
officialinfoemail@yahoo.co.jp expecting you’re immediately response.

For your information we are paying you for now US$1.5M

Your urgent response is imperative

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs. Ruth Owusu
Note: if you receive this message in your junk or spam its due to your
internet provider

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Anti-fraud resources: