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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "Bank statement" (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 9 May 2011 13:48:01 -0700
Subject: Bank Account Statement

ATM VERIFICATION UPDATE
Standard Bank
Dear Valued Customer,

Your Standard Bank Account Statement Reflects a Pending Electronic Fund Transfer amount of R6,460.99.

Attached to this e-mail is your encrypted Standard Bank Account Statement.

Your statement is encrypted in order to comply with SARS requirements that invoices and statements sent electronically should be tamperproof.

To view your statement, DOWNLOAD the attachment and process the pending fund transfer amount into your Standard Bank Account immeditely.

Regards
Internet banking team


Inspired. Motivated. Involved.
Copyright Standard Bank. All rights reserved.
Standard Bank of South Africa Limited (Reg. No. 1962/000738/06). Authorised financial services provider. Registered credit provider (NCRCP15).

Disclaimer and confidentiality note:
Everything in this email and any attachments relating to the official business of Standard Bank Group Limited is proprietary to the group.
It is confidential, legally privileged and protected by law. Standard Bank does not own and endorse any other content.
The person addressed in the email is the sole authorised recipient.
Please notify the sender immediately if it has unintentionally reached you and do not read disclose or use the content in any way.

Standard Bank cannot assume that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that it is free of errors, virus, interception or interference.

Anti-fraud resources: