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: "Charles P. Thomas" <xx@yy>
Reply-To: contactinfo@citromail.hu
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 2020 14:27:00 -0700
Subject: Dear: Esteem Customer



Federal Reserve Bank
Head Office
Federal Reserve Bank of New York
33 Liberty Street
New York, NY 10045

Dear: Esteem Customer

It has come to the attention of the New York Fed that your payment files from three (3) different banks, Nat-west Bank of London, Central Bank of Nigeria and Bank of America was compiled and submitted to my desk this morning for review.

The total sum owed to you by the 3 banks mentioned above was sum up to the tune of US$10,500,000.00 [Fifteen Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars]

We are in receipt of an approval document forwarded to our office by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to effect an immediate payment of US$10,500,000.00 [Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars] to your nominated account.

Basically, there are three (3) options for you to get your fund transferred to you. These options includes 1. Bank To Bank Transfer 2. Online Bank Account Opening 3. ATM Card Payment.

You are to make your preferred and affordable choice from the three options below:

Option (1)
Bank To Bank Transfer:This is a direct electronic transfer that will enable you receive the sum of money in any account that you will provide for this Bank to effect the transfer as it is always done electronically. It will take three (3) business days to reflect in the account that you will provide.

Cost of transfer:................$300
VAT:.............................$150
Insurance:.......................$250
Total:...........................$700

Option (2)
Online Bank Account Opening: You will have to open a new Online Bank account here and it will be registered for international transfer and you can make an online transfer as it will take 24Hours to get the account done.

Account Opening:................$50
VAT:............................$200
Insurance:......................$400
Total:..........................$650

Option (3)
ATM Card Payment: You will have to receive an ATM Card, this will take two (2) business days to deliver to your doorstep. We will have to use our courier company to deliver the parcel to your location.

Delivery Charges:.......................$100
VAT:............................$100
Insurance:......................$300
Stamp Duty .....................$250
Total:..........................$750

Please respond to this email by making a selection from the (3) options above.

Note: Your funds are protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it can be remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the Funds and hence must be provided by you before your fund is transferred to you.


In anticipating for your urgent cooperation

Yours sincerely,
Charles P. Thomas
Department : Accounts
Federal Reserve Bank

Anti-fraud resources: