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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: "Finance Dept" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <barristeredwinhooks@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 23:40:20 +0200
Subject: YOUR ATM IS READY FOR PICK-UP

Good Day, This mail is to inform you officially that your long awaited Inheritance and contract payment which was held by Central Bank have been approved today. The information was passed to us from the Federal Ministry of Finance after the meeting help in their head quarter for more than 6 hours concerning your partial payment. Verdict has been release and instructions had been giving to Zenith Bank ATM Administrative department to process and remit the total sum of $900,000.00USD via ATM MasterCard. Feel free to contact Zenith Bank international ATM directorial department for more information on how you can receive the ATM MasterCard. NOTE: YOU ARE TO SEND YOUR RESPONSE TO THE E-MAIL ADDRESS BELOW: Zenith Bank ATM Department, Contact Agent: Dr. Edwin Richards Hooks Email Address: barristeredwinhooks@gmail.com Make sure you contact him with your complete details to expedite the delivery to your location. We have instructed him to send the ATM CARD through FedEx Courier service and we have settled the postage fee on your behalf. Full Name.............. Residential Address................. Country....................... Ages............ Gender............. Telephone number................ You have to provide above details for proper verification that must, because of so many impostor that might want to intercept the delivery on while on transits. Like you were informed in above paragraph, the delivery fee has been settled already by finance ministry. The only requirement is Release Approval Document which will cost ($130.00usd) only. The bank will be authorize to activate your ATM CARD for easy usage. Barrister Edwin will register your ATM CARD with FedEx and furnish you with FedEx tracking number immediate you defray the payment. make sure you send your respond to this email (barristeredwinhooks@gmail.com) Get more instruction from the Barrister asap. Regards, Mrs. Gloria Lambert Secretary (Finance Ministry)

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