joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "HM Revenue & Customs (service@hmrc.gov)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <finance-control@accountant.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Jan 2015 16:28:19 -0500
Subject: Verification Needed

From: Chief Executive and Permanent Secretary
HM Revenue & Customs - 100 Parliament Street.
London, SW1A 2BQ. United Kingdom
Department:  Audit and Risk Committee Team
Telephone: 070 5383 8417 (Int: +44-7053838417)
Telephone: 070 5383 6882 (Int: +44-7053836882)
Fax Number: Int: +44-700-593-1276
 
Tuesday, December 30, 2014
 
Message: Sole Beneficiary
File Code: RC/8366-32
 
 
                                      CASE REPORT:RC//8366-32=APPROVED TRANSACTION
 
This message is to intimate you of a very important information which will be of great help to redeem you from all the difficulties experienced in securing your fund payment due to inappropriate documentation of your case file presently forwarded to our department for correction. I am Ms. Lin Homer, the Chief Executive Officer and Permanent Secretary of the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in United Kingdom. Following the recent email concerning the issues delaying the payment of your awarded funds, we have reviewed several international transaction cases of individuals who are experiencing serious difficulty in recovering their Contract/Inheritance Funds, Gambling/Lottery Awarded Funds (sponsored by multinational companies) and other international suspended/withheld funds yet to be paid to its beneficiary's account.
 
Conclusively, we discovered that most of these funds were placed on hold because majority of these international fund remittance/transfer of over the total sum of $500,000 and above to private or business accounts, usually carried out by foreign banks, private or commercial courier companies were not systematically registered due to the incomplete details of payment submitted by the fund beneficiary. In joint alliance with the International Monetary Fund to resolve this issue, we have gone through your transaction records and our extensive investigation confirmed that you are the original beneficiary shortlisted to receive an unpaid sum of Ten Million United States Dollars ($10,000,000.00 USD).
 
According to the information we received, those representing you have failed to credit your funds into your international bank account and any correspondence in regards to your claim sent to them again, we will not be able to help nor advice you outside our jurisdiction and dispensation of power and duty. As part of our vital national security measure to guarantee your payment, you are advised to forward a copy of your driver’s license or international passport (any identification document) along with the details of your home address and telephone number for documentation.
 
This review is being undertaken to ensure that we confirm to the latest regulatory requirement of the Inland Revenue Services (IRS) before you are issued a W-8BEN FORM APPLICATION FOR PAYMENT. If an up to date completed W-8BEN FORM together with a scanned copy of your driver’s license or international passport (any identification document) is not received within 10 working days, you will be enlisted as undocumented and we will be compelled to seek legal representation from our in-house attorney to terminate your transaction.
 
For more information, kindly forward all inquires and requirements to this email: lin@secretary.net for assistance.
 
Management,
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC).
Foreign Financial Investigations Team.
Key Tested Wire Transfer Department.
============================================
Disclaimer: The information in this email and in any files transmitted with it is intended only for the addressee and contains confidential and/or privileged material. Access to this email by anyone else is unauthorized. If you receive this in error, please contact the sender immediately and delete the material from your computer. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is strictly prohibited
 

Anti-fraud resources: