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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.

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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: IMF - LONDON <test@andrevillemont.com>
Reply-To: <nckbnkls@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2017 19:46:28 +0200
Subject: FUNDS GAZETTED FOR RELEASE.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
20 FISKERTON ROAD LINCOLN,LN3 4LA
LONDON-UNITED KINGDOM
ATTN
 
THIS IS TO NOTIFY YOU THAT YOUR OVER DUE INHERITANCE/CONTRACT FUNDS HAS BEEN GAZETTED TO BE RELEASED THROUGH THE BANK OF UNITED KINGDOM.
YOUR NAME WAS LISTED (IN THE CENTRAL COMPUTER AMONG THE LIST OF UNPAID BENEFICIARIES, CONTRACTORS, LOTTERY WINNERS, INHERITANCE NEXT OF KIN) THAT ORIGINATED FROM UNITED KINGDOM AMONG AS LIST OF INDIVIDUALS AND COMPANIES THAT THEIR UNPAID FUND WERE ALLOTTED TO US FOR PAYMENT.
YOUR NAME APPEARED AMONG THE BENEFICIARIES WHO WILL RECEIVE A PART-PAYMENT OF 3.9M GBP. WHICH APPROVAL ALREADY HAS BEEN GIVEN. MEANWHILE, WE WANT TO INFORM YOU THAT A MAN CAME TO THIS OUR OFFICE A FEW DAYS AGO WITH AN LETTER OF AUTHORITY, CLAIMING TO BE YOUR TRUE REPRESENTATIVE.
HERE ARE HIS INFORMATION FOR YOU TO CONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE IF THE MAN IS TRULY FROM YOU OR NOT SO THAT WE WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING INTO A WRONG ACCOUNT NAME:
NAME: MR.BROWN JOHNSON
BANK NAME: CITI BANK
BANK ADDRESS: ARIZONA, USA.
ACCOUNT NUMBER: 65034809428.
PLEASE, DO RECONFIRM TO THIS OFFICE, AS A MATTER OF URGENCY IF THIS MAN IS FROM YOU.
I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE TO YOU ON BEHALF OF THIS ORGANIZATION (IMF- (INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND) ON OUR FAILURE TO RELEASE YOUR FUND IN TIME, WHICH ACCORDING TO RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM HAD BEEN LONG OVERDUE. PLEASE GET BACK TO ME IMMEDIATELY TO ENABLE US FORWARD YOUR INFORMATION OF OUR PAYING BANK IN LONDON SO THAT YOUR FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFER TO YOU WITHIN 48 HOURS.
NOTE; YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SEND ANY MONEY TO US HERE TO PROCESSED THE  RELEASED  OF YOUR INHERITANCE, ALL WE NEED FROM YOU IS A VALID CONFIRMABLEID.
YOURS SINCERELY,
MR. NICOLE KAMSON
IMF UNITED KINGDOM
NOTE: YOUR RETURN RESPONSE SHOULD BE THROUGH EMAIL TO
KEEP RECORD.

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