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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: Office of the presidency <britishinlandrevenue3@gmail.com>
Reply-To: barristeredwardjohnsonesq1@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 12 Apr 2023 04:08:46 -0700
Subject: PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
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OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENCY
PRESIDENTIAL VILLA ASO-ROCK
ABUJA NIGERIA
FOREIGN PAYMENT REVIEW
Our Ref: RSE/03/05/2022
Attention Beneficiary
In view of your payment and after fact finding this office has
redirected you through central bank of Nigeria accredited lawyer
barrister Edward Johnson to properly investigated why your funds has
not been transferred after you had meant all the requirement.
Sir this office strongly advises you to stop further communication with
any group of persons or individual to enable the present lawyer Edward
Johnson looks into your predicament and let you know the way forward in
receiving your payment.
We discover most of officers that you were dealing was not remitting
your payment to the proper channels A copy of this email has been sent
to the following offices. Governor Central Bank of Nigeria CBN,
Foreign remittance department CBN, Federal Ministry of Finance FMF
office of the Accountant General of Nigeria AGN for their perusal.
In view of this mail you're free to ask question in area you do not understand.
Sir in case barrister Edward Johnson contact you don’t be surprise
this office gave him your contact details regarding your payment.
Sincerely
Mr. Boss Mustapha
Secretary to the Federal Govt of Nig.
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Anti-fraud resources:
