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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:
- "atm card department" (this phrase is often used in the ATM card payment scam)
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "atm@post.ro" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <atm@post.ro>
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 2010 02:09:29 +0200
Subject: Re: NOTIFICATION OF PAYMENT BY ATM MASTER CARD
DIRECTOR, INTERNATIONAL REMITTANCE
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPT
CENTRAL BANK OF NIGERIA
LAGOS-NIGERIA.
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we have thoroughly investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you are having an illegal transaction with Impostors claiming to be officials of Nigerian Banks. During our investigation, we noticed that the reason why you have not received your payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.
Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry of Finance on your behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating your payment in total USD$274,000.00 in an ATM MASTER CARD which you can use to withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a maximum of $5000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD.
Contact (MR WALLANCE ROLAND) of the ATM CARD department :
NAME : MR.WALLANCE ROLAND
EMAIL: atm@post.ro
Phone: +234-808-252-9749
Reconfirm the following information to us for security reasons:
1)YOUR FULL NAMES
2)YOUR MAILING ADDRESS.
3)YOUR DIRECT TELEPHONE NUMBER
4)YOUR PROFESSION
Your files will be updated upon confirmation of the above information and we shall get back to you with the information to wire the insurance/courier fee of us$370 to effect the shipment of your ATM MASTER CARD to your destination.
CC: ALL FOREIGN INHERITTANCE FUNDS
CC: CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR
CC: BOARD OF DIRECTORS [FPD]
CC: ACCOUNTANT GENERAL OF NIGERIA.
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Anti-fraud resources:
