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: CBN Nigeria <cbnnigeriia659989@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2023 11:58:29 +0100
Subject: Are you dead?


RE-CHANGE OF ACCOUNT.

I have just been appointed into office in charge of the Banking & Payment
System here in the Central Bank of Nigeria, to oversee all pending &
overdue foreign payments and ensure that debts owed to all foreign
beneficiaries from contract/inheritance/lottery winnings are completely
paid. And I have therefore discovered that a new bank account has been
submitted to divert your payment to a German bank as stated below:

FRANKFURTER BANK
A/C NO.: 367840545
SWIFT CODE: 50050201
BENEFICIARY: CERSTIN WENGER.

The new account was submitted with a letter stating that you have died, and
have directed the new beneficiary to claim your fund. You are therefore
required to urgently confirm if this development is true and has your
authority. All arrangements to effect payment to the new bank account have
been completed, but is kept pending until we hear from you.

Respond immediately with your full details, so that all perceived anomalies
will be corrected, to ensure that we do not release your fund to the wrong
persons.

Sincerely,

Victor Jonathan
Manager
Banking & Payment System
(Foreign Remittance Department)
Central Bank of Nigeria.

Anti-fraud resources: