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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: "Cyril W Oni" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cwo196952@mynet.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jul 2017 00:13:59 -0700
Subject: Re: Is this true..?

Dear Friend,
 
My name is Mr. Samuel Ugwunna, I am contacting you today because I have the mandate of the Nigerian Government in conjunction with United Nations, United Kingdom and United States of America to authorize and pay out the sum of US$4,280,000 Million fund to you as a part payment to you. A lot of foreign contractors/next of kins and lottery winners are yet to receive their overdue funds, this is the reason why I was mandated to supervise and authorize the part payment process to you as one of the owed persons. 
 
I have tried to contact you on this email address twice but I did not get any response from you and
luckily for me, your local representative here in Nigeria contacted my office and told us that you were involved in an accident two months ago and recovering in the hospital. Your representative told us that you have decided to use the name of your partner to receive this payment US$4, 280,000 Million from the Nigerian Government. Below is the name and bank information of your partner (Mr. Giuseppe Curatola) that was forwarded to my office:
 
 
Bank Name : Banca Popolare  Di Vicenza
Address : 13 – Via Marconi -37063-Isola Della Scala -Verona- Italy
Account  No:  295570761744
Iban :  IT17M0572859500295570761744
Swift Code  Bic:  BPVIIT21295
Account Holder: Mr. Giuseppe Curatola
 
 
We are so sorry for the accident and we wish you a quick recovery but please we would like you to make the change formal by sending me a letter of authorization written and signed by you authorizing my office to authorize the final transfer of US$4, 280 Million to the bank account of your partner above.
 
Yours truly,
 
Mr. Cyril W. Oni
my e-mail: cwo196952@mynet.com

Anti-fraud resources: