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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: "James Chan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jamechan781@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2020 08:40:54 -0700
Subject: Re: Fund Diversion

Attention: Sir,
 
There was  a counter claim on your fund by one Mr.Hugo Mühlinghaus from Germany, who is presently trying to make us believe that you entered into an agreement with him, to help you  receive your fund in his bank account in Germany. So here comes the question. Did you sign any Deed ofAssignment in favor of Mr. Hugo Mühlinghaus, thereby made him the current beneficiary of your approved fund US$8,5Million with the following account details:
 
Account Name: Hugo Mühlinghaus
Stadtsparkasse Wuppertal
Bank code: 33050000
SWIFT BIC: WUPSDE33xxx
Account Number. : 740456.
 
If you did not sign, or authorize Mr. Hugo Mühlinghaus to receive your payment on your behalf, kindly reconfirm to us, your genuine bank account details and full address, to avoid make payment to a wrong person whom attempt to divert your payment to a new account without your knowledge and this may have been done by your local representative with the assistance of some Officials, whom most of them are presently under our custody and will face prosecution under section 35A subsection 1-2-4 of the criminal code of Nigeria/Benin Republic  pending on when we finish with our investigation.
 
Based on that your advise to  get back to me  for further details
 
Thanks
 
James Chan

Anti-fraud resources: