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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Vincent Zulu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrvincentzuluimf@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2015 22:40:26 +0200
Subject: Read carefully and respond immediately

Mr. Vincent Zulu
IMF Liaison Office,
Pretoria 0001 South Africa
 
First I must apologize for contacting you if you find my help not worthy. My problem is that I hate to see people being cheated for no reason. I am a junior staff at the IMF liaison office here in South Africa and while going through some of the files in my office, I discovered that some foreigners are being used and dumped by some of our Senior Directors, Banks Executives and the Government officials.
Please be informed that a payment of $12,700,000.00 (Twelve Million Seven Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) only was approved to be paid to you and the only contact I got on the file is this email address so I decided to write you via this email to see if I will get a response from you which will confirm that you are alive.
 
This money has been approved but has not yet been paid out to your account. I have found out that these top officials are using your money to trade at the International Market buying stocks and making interest while delaying your payment.
I have found out that these top officials are using your money to trade at the International Market buying stocks and making interest while delaying your payment. These officials use delay tactics to hold on to your payment while they make money. They will tell you that your transfer or check will be delivered today and when that time comes, they will come up with another excuse why your payment was stopped or cancelled.
Just last week they presented a woman by name Mrs. Laura Burke who came to our office with a letter which she claimed you gave her to claim this money on your behalf. She said that you are dead, that you gave her the letter authorizing her to claim the money when you became so sick. Here is the account she forwarded where they want the money transferred and we want to know if you are aware of this account.
ACC NAME: LAURA BURKE
BANK NAME: CITI BANK
BANK ADDRESS: ARIZONA, USA.
ACCOUNT Number: 6503809428.
 
This payment is either as a result of lottery, inheritance or some Holocust claim which is due to you. In my further search I found out that some of the Beneficiaries are not even aware of this payment. They don't even know that such payments exist for them. I am contacting you secretly believing that you will keep this as top secret. I want to work with you to move these funds to your account within 72 hours if only you can accept to work with me.
Please one thing I must ask of you is to keep this secret until we get the transfer made to your account. If you will not be able to handle the secret part of this, please let me know and I will never contact you again because what I want is to see that justice is done and your money is released to you. This payment is in your name and belongs to you so you should have it.
I need immediately your response confirming that you are alive and did not send this woman Mrs. Laura Burke to claim this money on your behalf. Once I have received your response, I will let you know what to do immediately and get this payment within 3 working days if you follow it up.
Email me back with your contact telephone number and address immediately.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Vincent Zulu
IMF Liaison Office
South Africa
 

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