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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: IMF DEPARTMENT <imfdepartmen004@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrkevinhomes@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 12 May 2014 06:11:56 -0700
Subject: FROM IMF VERY URGENT.

Sir/Madam,

IMF/ FORENSIC AUDITORS INTERNATIONAL DEBT SETTLEMENT

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is an international organization
that oversees the global financial system, with a goal to assists the
reconstruction of the world's international payment system. The IMF
and the World Bank’s joint and comprehensive approach to debt
reduction are designed to ensure that no poor country faces a debt
burden it cannot manage. To date, debt reduction packages under the
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative have been approved
for 35 countries, 29 of them in Africa.

After noting the difficulties encountered by foreign
contractors/beneficiaries in receiving their payments from African
countries, the International Monetary Fund (I.M.F) in conjunction with
the World Bank had reached an agreement with these Heavily Indebted
Poor Countries to give them grants to pay off these foreign
contractors/beneficiaries through the issuance of MasterCard/Visa Card
Prepaid Cards payment system. This is to avoid endless difficulties
that have characterized the payment of foreign
contractors/beneficiaries.

Holders of Contract, Inheritance, Loan and Lottery payment claims may
be able to receive partial payments for these claims. We strongly
advise you to contact I.M.F Debt Management Board African Dept.
Headquarters 1 (HQ1): Washington, D.C. USA, the agency in charge of
African debts in order to assess the possibilities of paying you
without further delays. We stress the importance of a timely response,
given that the window of opportunity will be limited.

Contact person: Mr. Kelvin Holmes
Email: mrkevinhomes@gmail.com
Tel: +41565880013

Sincerely,

Dr. Carolyn Atkinson
Executive Director, I.M.F Debt Management Board African Dept.
Headquarters 1 (HQ1):
International Monetary Fund, 700 19th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20431

Anti-fraud resources: