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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:

Fraud email example:

From: Western Union Money Transfer <wumtbureaus@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:01:40 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: cancellation notice for your funds transfer


Office of the Operation Manager
Western Union Payment Center.
Head Office, Herbert Macaulay Way,
Wusih Zone 6, Porto-Novo FCT.
 
24 hours banking service. Please reflect on the time difference in Africa if contacting us from overseas.
 
Dear Customer,
Compliment of the season to you!!!
 
This is to report to you that our bank have received a correspondence from the Federal High Court as cancellation notice for your funds transfer to be deleted from foreign payment file .  We have waited long time enough for you to fulfill the required obligations and claim the funds like other beneficiaries that have claimed their funds before February ending but nothing comes up from you as the funds owner.
 
The Management of this Western Union held an urgent meeting in my office today regards to the transferring of your funds by Western Union and they have asked my office to submit all the paper works and files containing your funds confidentiality but I refused and asked the board members to give me from now till tomorrow so that I consult you personally to know your opinion concerning the funds.
 
Further more, you are advised to reply to this email after reading, and feel free to tell us why you abandoned such huge amount here. Let us know if you are no longer interested on this transaction.
Finally, if you still have the interest of being paid your funds by Western Union Money Transfer; you should kindly forward your receiver’s permit immediately.
 
I am looking forward to your positive reply fairly soon.
 
Best Regards.
 
Mr. Dina` Nwunyeya
Operation Manager
Western Union

Anti-fraud resources: