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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: "ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICA STATES(ECOWAS)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <patrickxiangprivate@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thu, 18 Jun 2015 15:08:02 +0100
Subject: RE:SUBJECT MATTER FUND TRANSFER NOTIFICATION

ECONOMIC COMMUNITY OF WEST AFRICA STATES(ECOWAS)
Plot 26 New Air Port Road,P.O.Box M61
Accra- Ghana,West Africa
 
Our Official Working Hours
Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:30pm
Saturday - 9:00am - 2:30pm
 
 
Attention: Beneficiary,
 
                                    RE:SUBJECT MATTER FUND TRANSFER NOTIFICATION.                                                
This is to officially inform you that your uncompleted transaction has been cleared of $2.2 million united states Dollars (Two Million and two Hundred Thousand Dollars) by Mr. Richard Fox and the fund is routed to the account number: 0851143440331 Swift Code: BARCGHAC Barclay’s Bank of Ghana. Be informed that this office has been set up to verify fund transaction to Ghana from Bank in Nigeria and any third party transaction of this magnitude before granting beneficiary authorization for withdrawal of funds by the beneficiary. Note that we are taking this measure to ensure safety of your fund and also to ensure that Mr. Richard Fox is not diverting this fund of $2.2m USD to Barclay’s Bank of Ghana.
 
In line with the report of the panel, all charges, fees and unnecessary payments which beneficiaries were liable to for one reason or the other have been cancelled. The only thing you need to do as a foreign beneficiary of funds from any ECOWAS country is to procure a TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBER (TIN) in accordance with the new directives.
 
 
Please reply immediately with declaration that you are in agreement with Mr. Richard Fox to receive the fund on your behalf to enable us release this fund to him.
 
Finally, if you are not in agreement with Mr. Richard Fox to help us proceed with you in accordance with the new directives you will be required to send us useful details as stated below:
 
(1) FULL NAME
(2) ADDRESS
(3) DIRECT TELEPHONE
 
Yours faithfully,
Mr.Patrick Mansah.
Transfer Investigation Unit.

Anti-fraud resources: