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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: BNY BANK OF NEW YORK MELON<eric@greendot.com.ph>
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 2015 21:12:35 +0800
Subject: Acknowledge Receipt Of This Email.

From the Desk of: Gerald L. Hassell
Chairman and CEO (BNY Bank of New York Mellon)
1 Wall St New York, NY, 10005 United States
Tel: 1-646-844-7769

Attn: Sir,

This is to inform you that the Government of the United
States in conjunction with the World Bank has Cleared 50%
of various funds belonging to her Citizens that is being
held in Nigeria,Asia,Europe and the United
Kingdom(England-London) for various bogus fees and
charges.

Among the funds released/transferred to our Bank is
$9,500,000.00(Nine Million Five Hundred Thousand United
States Dollars) belonging to you which was being held for
long in those countries mentioned and it has been tagged
Abandoned.

We have sent notice to you on Monday but no reply, we have
to send you this email as a final notice and you are
expected to respond within three days of receiving this
email to enable us finalize arrangement to transfer your
fund into your Bank Account.

Your confirmation to the above matter will be appreciated.
We look forward to hearing from you soonest for further
advise.

Regards,

Gerald L. Hassell
Chairman and CEO (BNY Bank of New York Mellon)

Anti-fraud resources: