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: "LOS ANGELES FEDERAL CREDIT UNION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lafcu@california.usa.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 14:56:01 +0100
Subject: Re: Hello

Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (LAFCU)
201 N. Los Angeles Street, Space #201
Los Angeles, CA USA
www.lafcu.org
 
Ref: LAFCU|44.96|16:00 EDT|09/17/2010
 
Dear beneficiary
 
                     Re: Contract/Inheritance funds claims notification
We are trying to contact you to clarify and resolve the misunderstanding and problem at hand. We do not intend to send to you a scam or any sort of fraudulent email because You also need to know if you are being impersonated by the unknown, therefore, this email should not be regarded as unsolicited, as our intention is to your best interest and to protect our good image and reputation, and to maintain our leadership in professionalism.
 
Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (LAFCU) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.1 trillion and operations. The firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers, small business and commercial banking, financial transaction processing, asset management, and private equity. Los Angeles Federal Credit Union serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the worlds most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients.
 
 
Be informed that we the Los Angeles Federal Credit Union (LAFCU) have received instruction to release the approved sum of Ten Million Dollars (US$10, 000, 000.00) to you, as your Contract/Inheritance fund. We have with us the entire documentation required for your payment. We shall be waiting to hear from you for the immediate payment.
 
 
After this resent approval of your contract/inheritance fund payment of $10Million to be released to you from my bank and for your immediate payment, Mr. Hancock from Washington DC contacted my bank requesting for the release of your funds in his name as your next-of-kin/beneficiary hence you are proclaimed dead. And the below are his bank account details he provided, urging my bank to transfer your fund into immediately before it is too late:
 
 
His Bank Account Details:
Bank name: Bank of America
Account No.: 9085686846
Routing No.: 54664564
 
 
Understand that our intention for contacting you is to confirm if you are dead as this man falsely said. If he is wrong, kindly provide in the below order, the required details from you to enable us update your payment document and to secure your funds so that your payment would take place without delay:
 
 
Full names:
House address:
Occupation:
Phone/fax:
Age/sex:
Copy of ID.
 
 
We wait hearing from you with the above details to start your payment processing. You can call me ASAP on 3232479237
 
 
yours faithfully,
 
 
 
Chuck Rubin
Board Chairperson,
LAFCU
Tel: 3232479237
www.lafcu.org

Anti-fraud resources: