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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: "Treasury Department" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaelhillsdesk@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2017 00:20:59 -0700
Subject: Message unclaimed MasterCard

U.S. Treasury Department Unclaimed Funds
Headquarters: Treasury Building
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. USA .
CALL/SMS 1- 484-841-8616
 
Dear  Beneficiaries,
 
The office of foreign assets control and the main branch of the treasury department of federal credit union. Your email information files were forwarded to my desk this early morning and it's among the list to be compensated with a Debit MasterCard worth sum of $8,316,000.00; Which has been uploaded with funds on it by the treasury department in conjunction with the internal revenue service and united states attorney general {A.G} which is concerned with legal affairs and law enforcement of the united states government for this fiscal quarter of the year 2017; and its duly inter-switched which you can make withdrawal in any location of the ATM machine center of your choice nearest to you or within your area and any where in the world.
 
You are expected to forward your full name, delivery address and cell phone number to proceed immediately and should in case you need any more information in regards to this notification be free to get back to me so that i can brief you more as i'm are here to guide you and give you directive during and after this project has been completely perfected and to ensure you received your funds as stated.
 
I would respectfully request that you treat the content of this information classified confidential and privileged and also respect the integrity of this vital information you come across as a result of this correspondence. Contact me immediately for more information and certification begin the normal processing of redeeming your Debit MasterCard before your funds is being compelled by law and returned back to the treasury account as unclaimed inheritance funds.
 
Lastly, you are required to provide the required information for the legal processing of your funds to you through automatic teller machine directly to you.
 
We look torward to serving you better.
Thanks,
Micheal Hills
e-mail: ustreasurygov@representative.com
 

Anti-fraud resources: