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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "you are required to pay " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION <gfd4@fed.my.vg>
Reply-To: <frbofny6o71@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2016 05:50:49 -0600
Subject: Re: NOTIFICATION TO CREDIT YOUR ACCOUNT!
We have received a payment credit instruction from Government of Nigeria/Benin Republic to credit your account with the your full inheritance sum of Fifteen Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars. You are by this notice informed that your outstanding payment of $15.8M has been deposited with us. However you are required to pay the only fees/charges of $298 been for the procurement of your funds origin certificate from the government of Benin Republic. Your funds will be transferred to your designated bank account as soon as you comply with our instructions. Meanwhile, you are required to re confirm the following data:
{1} Full name, address and tell/cell and fax #
{2} Means of Identification e.g. Passport photo ID/Drivers License.
{3} Bank details.
Note: We have limited time to finish this transfer as the Federal reserve is not a regular deposit bank. We were only mandated to carry out this particular transaction due to special characteristic of the funds considering the fact that you have been trying to access the funds and have spent a lot of money through other institutions with no avail. This is the available opportunity to enable you get what rightly belong to you. The FBI/Interpol did a very wonderful work by gathering your funds together and mandating us to carry out the transfer by ourselves to ensure transparency and accountability.
The payment information where to wire the needed fees/charges will be sent upon receipt of your reply to this notice.
Matthew Ward
Phone: 646-760-2336
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045
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Anti-fraud resources:
