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: "INTERIOR MINISTRY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <interiorministry.dambazu@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2018 21:11:15 +0200
Subject: COMPLIMENT OF THE SEASON AND CONGRATULATIONS

From The Desk of The Minister,
Federal Ministry of Interior,
Internal and Foreign Affairs
Aso Rock Villa Abuja, Nigeria.
 
Dear  Beneficiary,
 
Your Contract Inheritance/Compensation payment has been approved for urgent transfer to your
 
account through Citi Bank New York yesterday by the Senate Committee.
 
You're advised to get back to us immediately with your information to enable us prepare
 
Authorization letter that will enable the Bank Of New York Mellon  Credit your account within the next
 
48hrs.
 
Note: The approved part payment is 8.6m, the balance will be remitted on or before the end
 
of first quarter of 2019.
 
We look forward hearing from you.
 
Thanks,
Rtd. Gen A. Bello Dambazau
For: The Ministry of Interior

Anti-fraud resources: