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: "Dr. Usman Bello" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <faxroom2@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2016 00:55:52 -0700
Subject: US$12.5MILLION APPROVED FOR PAYMENT FB

Dear Beneficiary,
 
US$12.5MILLION APPROVED FOR PAYMENT
 
I hope that this correspondence is received with the urgency and expediency required.
 
It has come to the notice of the Board of Trustees at the CBN that your present inheritance claims application being handled by the Remitting Bank in Nigeria is experiencing some manmade irregularities. To this effect, it has become necessary for the Board of Trustees to invite trained Fund Transfer Specialists from the United States to resolve and regularize your fund release with immediate effect. We at Dr. Frank Leeeee & Associates have been duly consulted by the CBN Board of Trustees and have been fully informed about how the staff of the remitting bank has been taking advantage of you by telling you to pay unnecessarily exorbitant charges which will only make your fund payment a long drawn out process.
 
Due to this we have decided to step into the process of your fund transfer to enable your funds to be transferred within the soonest possible time you are to get back to us immediately without needing to pay all the huge sums of monies that are being demanded from you by the remitting bank. All processes to have your funds paid to you immediately through the CBNs Liaison Remittance Office in New York have been initiated to cut out unnecessary costs. You are advised to keep this communication highly confidential as the CBN Board of Trustees have asked us to resolve this fund payment independent of the office of the CBN Governor to identify the principal participants in this unethical payment procedure.
 
Furthermore, you are hereby advised to pay no further fees or charges to the Remitting Bank in Nigeria as they shall no longer be handling your payment process. We shall await your immediate correspondence with your direct telephone numbers for re-confirmation to my confidential email address at (faxroom2@gmail.com) so that we may conclude your payment immediately.
 
Yours Sincerely,
 
Dr. Frank Lee
Board of Trustees at the CBN

Anti-fraud resources: