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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "executive governor" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "info@cbn-ng.org" <balfourduke18@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fund-remittancedept@accountant.com
Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2017 03:39:57 +0100
Subject: Attention: Sir/Ma!
--
FROM THE DESK OF EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR-[CBN]
[OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR]
Attention: Sir/Ma!
Re: Confidential Notification.
Acting on my capacity as the executive governor of Central Bank of
Nigerian. Hereby wish to re-affirm the below irregularities from you
before proceeding on effecting the transfer of your payment to the new
account.
Did you by any means authorize on your behalf for onward transfer of
your basic compensation payment which was Re-deposited into
the"Federal Suspense Account of Central Bank value at $3.7 Million
dollars to the new account submitted to this bank by your
representative
Account stated below:
US Bank
721 Locust street
St, Louis, Mo 63101 USA.
Account Beneficiary: Osborne. D. Gilliard.
Aba Routing No: 081000210
Intl swift code: Usbkus44imt
Account No: 1001086162
The account owner claimed to be your representative statement on your
behalf that your in a sick bed, hence authorized us to transfer your
compensation payment to his nominated bank account he submitted
Note that your inability to reconfirm to my desk immediately upon the
receipt of this letter would be recall that you actually authorized
them to claim your funds and we will not hesitate to effect transfer
of the payment to the above bank account as we will not be held for
any shortcoming thereafter.
In receipt of this confidential Letter hereby advice you to act
accordingly in reporting to this office for immediate verification and
confirmation before our proceedings on transferring your funds or
cancel
Thank you!
Regards
Dr. Godwin Emefiele’s
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Anti-fraud resources:
