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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: "Mrs. Carolinar Curtis" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <howelldavidm@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 3 Apr 2015 18:46:30 -0500
Subject: To Unpaid Beneficiary,Compensation Approved

Head of United Nations Under-Secretary
General for Internal Oversight Services
To: Unpaid Beneficiary,
From: Mrs. Carolinar Curtis
 
This is to inform you that I came to Nigeria yesterday from USA, after series of complaint from the FBI and other Security agencies from Asia, Europe, South America and the United States of America respectively, against the Federal Government of Nigeria and the British Government for the high volume of fraudulent activities going in  both nations.
 
As directed by UN secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, we are working in collaborations with the Nigerian Financial Crime Commission/in order to get your overdue payment compensation fund  worth $2.5M only into your account without any delay as approved and instructed by United State Government and UNITED NATIONS.
 
Sincerely, you are a lucky person because I have just discovered that some top Nigerian and Canadian Government Officials are interested in your fund and they are working in collaboration with One Mr. Richard Graves from USA to frustrate you and thereafter divert your fund into their personal account.
 
Note that I have a very limited time to stay in Nigeria here so I would like you to urgently respond to this message, by forward your details to Mr. Howell David whom will authorize and start processing your compensation fund transfer into your bank account, do not hesitate to forward the daily scam letter you received from imposter to us via email, as this will help in getting impersonator arrested.
 
Email Address: (mikejohnsonvs@yahoo.com.ph)
Phone: +2348037165537
 
KINDLY FURNISH US WITH THE FOLLOWING DETAILS FOR PROPER CLARIFICATIONS:
 
FULL NAMES:
ADDRESS:
CELL NUMBER:
DATE OF BIRTH:
NATIONALITY:
MARITAL STATUS:
RELIGION:
GENDER:
OCCUPATION:
BANK NAME:
BANK ADDRESS:
ACCOUNT NUMBER:
ROUTING NUMBER:
SWIFT CODE:
 
Option 2 : PAYOUT BY INTERNATIONAL CERTIFIELD BANK DRAFT
 
Your Full Names:
Home Address:
Nationality:
Phone Number:
Age:
Occupation:
Gender:
 
Sincerely yours,
Carolinar Curtis
Head of United Nations Under-Secretary
General for Internal Oversight Services

Anti-fraud resources: