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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: "Barrister Johnson Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrjohnsonwilliams11@googlemail.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Feb 2014 07:16:46 -0800
Subject: YOUR PAYMENT NOTIFICATION VIA ATM CARD.

UNITED NATIONS CONSIGNMENT
RECOVERING COMMITTEE
ATTN CONTRACT BENEFICIARY
IMMEDIATE DELIVERY OF YOUR
CONSIGNMENT GHRCBN/NNPC/FGN/MIN/014
 
 
 
Attention: Beneficiary
 
 
This is to officially inform you that we verify your contract inheritance file presently on my desk, and I found that you have not received your payment due to its lack of cooperation and not fulfilling the obligations giving to you regarding your payment of inheritance andmore importantly, the dishonest staff who dealt with coming up with lies and deceit, we received the report of what passed in the process of receiving your fund, some international and local banks in these cases was presented at the International Seminar that Financial just finished, and we were made to release your fund through this process of ATM.
 
Secondly, you are hereby advice to stop dealing with some non-officials who claims to be in the bank as this is an illegal act and will have to stop if they want to receive your payment immediately. After the board meeting held at our headquarters, we have resolved in finding a solution to your problem, and as you know, we have arranged your payment through our Center SWIFT payment cards in Europe, America and Asia-Pacific, is then given instruction by the World Bank president.
 
This card center will send you an ATM card you will use to withdraw your money from an ATM anywhere in the world, but the maximum is ($ 5,000.00) Five thousand dollars per transaction. So if you would like to receive your fund this way, $ 15,000 for you to retire for a day and each transaction is $ 5,000 usd minimum you must withdraw $ 15,000 for a day's work can be informed that the total amount in the SWIFT ATM CARD is $ 4.5Million USD.
 
(1) Your full name:
(2) Your address where you want the payment center to send your ATM card.:
(3) Telephone Number and Fax:
(4) Age and Occupation:
(5) Your Nearest International Air Port in your city of residence:
 
We will be waiting to receive the information, and you have to stop communication with any person or office. In this regard, please do not hesitate to contact us for more information and guidance for the launch of your card to your door in the next 72hrs.
 
Thank you for your cooperation.
 
Regards,
Barrister Johnson Williams

Anti-fraud resources: