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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: "HM Revenues (admin-control@revenue.com)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <justholiday@revenue.cam>
Date: Mon, 2 Oct 2017 21:47:20 +0300
Subject: AW: RE: AW: From Settlement Unit

REMINDER!!!
 
 
From:  Chief Finance and Department of Public Information
HM Revenue & Customs - 100 Parliament Street
London, SW1A 2BQ. United Kingdom
Department: Benefits and Credits Operations Team
 
>>>>>>>   Message:   Sole Beneficiary
>>>>>>>   File Code:  HRC/832416-32
 
 
 
We at the HM Revenue & Customs wish to notify you of great information which will be of great help to asist you
on the recovery of approved and awarded funds meant to be paid into your account and
which is being delayed for payment due to wrong information sent to my Dept.
 
 
Following complaints we have recieved recently concerning delays on completing payment transfer of funds awarded
to Beneficiaries here, we have reviewed and resolved several cases of withheld
funds which includes contract/inheritance funds, Gambling/Lottery awarded funds.
 
In regards of the above message, we have carefully sorted out issues with the financial department in charge
of your transaction and our investigations confirmed that you were included on a list
of beneficiaries shortlisted to receive a total sum of Seven Million ($7,000,000.00 USD) as traced on a case file details
below;
 
                          FIRST QUARTER INTERNATIONAL BENEFICIARY PAYMENT
 
Unpaid Amount    ------ 7,000,000.00 GBP (Great British Pounds) withheld through an intermediary Bank
                                     Levy VAT withheld over W8-BEN FORM
 
 
Payment Status   ------ Beneficiary's details needed for confirmation before payment.
 
 
According to the information above, you are advised to acknowledge the content of this message by
confirming your interest in receiving your funds in order for us to issue you a W-8BEN FORM APPLICATION FOR YOUR PAYMENT.
 
 
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Justin Holiday
(Chief Finance Officer).
 
 
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: The information in this email and in any files transmitted with it is intended only for the addressee and contains confidential and/or privileged material. Access to this email by anyone else
is unauthorized. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete the material from your computer. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution
or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is strictly prohibited.

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