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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: JAMES B COMEY JR <thomassabbotesq@gmail.com>
Reply-To: kaylorhickman2015@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 2016 10:31:21 -0800
Subject: Re. Department of US Federal Bureau Of Investigation

Department of US Federal Bureau Of Investigation
Address: 26 Federal Plaza 23rd Floor New York NY 10278-0004
Ref: DE-FBI-RC
Attention:
Greeting From FBI Headquarters Washington DC 20535-0001

We sincerely apologize for sending you this sensitive information via
e-mail instead of a certified mail, phone call or a face-to-face
conversation, it is due to the urgency and importance of the security
information involve. In the quest to cushion the effect of the global
financial crisis, American government through the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) Washington, DC and the Internet Crime Complaint
Center (ic3) has signed an agreement with Africa for an immediate
release of all overdue funds presently logged in their treasury and
ensure it is disbursed to the rightful beneficiaries in any part of
the world. If you are the beneficiary would adhere to this
notification it will help stabilize the various economies of the world
and reduce the effect of this depressing recession.

Prior to this agreement our team of security experts has swung into
action for transparency and accountability of this periodic project.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (Global Intelligence, Cyber
Division) saddled with the responsibility of monitoring activities
going on over the internet have discovered your name in the list of
unpaid contractors/inheritance and it might interest you to know that
we have conducted a comprehensive investigation on this discovery as
stipulated on our protocol of operation and have confirmed that the
inheritance fund was endorsed in your favor and it is 100% genuine and
hitch free from all facets. You have the lawful right to contact the
appropriate authority to claim your payment without further delay.

Further, findings revealed that some corrupt ex- government officials
are conniving with some officials of Ivory Coast Federal Ministry of
Finance to change your account and transfer your inheritance funds to
a strange account in Canada through a woman by the name Mrs. Jane
Frederick who purported to be your relation, he presented some
necessary documentations evidencing your claim purported to have been
signed by you for to the release of your contract fund valued USD $
5,000.000.00 (Five Million United State Dollars)

We shall give you more details as soon as we receive your reply again.
Yours in service,
JAMES B COMEY JR

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