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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: Christopher Wray <mandbril006@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fbi.headoffice77@mail.com
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2021 12:19:35 -0800
Subject: FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS HEAD OFFICE

--
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATIONS HEAD OFFICE

This is to inform you that we have been working towards the eradication of
fraudsters and scam Artists in Africa
with the help of the Organization of African Unity (AU) United Nations
(UN), European Union (EU) and FBI.
We have been able to track down some scam artist in various parts of
African countries which includes (Nigeria, Republic of Benin,
Ghana and Senegal with cote d'ivoire) and they are all in Government
custody now, they will appear at the International Criminal Court (ICC)
soon for Justice. During the course of investigation, they were able to
recovered some funds from these scam artists and IMF
organization have ordered the funds recovered to be shared among the 10
Lucky people listed around the World as a compensation.

This notice has been directed to you because your email address was found
in one of the scam Artists file and
computer hard-disk during the investigation, maybe you have been scammed.

You are therefore being compensated with sum of $35.5M valid into an (ATM
Card Number 4848421013897209)
Since your email address is among the lucky beneficiaries who will receive
a compensation funds,
we have arranged your payment to be paid to you through ATM VISA CARD and
deliver to your postal
address with the Pin Numbers to enable you to withdraw a maximum of $5,000
on each withdrawal from
any Bank ATM Machine of your choice until all the funds are exhausted and
you can as well walk into your bank and withdraw any amount of your choice
without
any withdrawal limit or interference.

The ATM Card with Security Pin Numbers shall be delivered to you using
Express Mail Service (DHL) .

The package is coming from the Bank of Uganda and don't forget to reconfirm
your following information.

1. Your Full Name:
2. Address Where You want us to Send Your ATM Card
3. Cell/Mobile Number

We advise you to stop all communications with everyone regarding your
payment as we have short
listed to deliver to you and now urge you to comply and receive your ATM
Card funds.
Thanks for your understanding as you follow instructions while I wait to
hear from you today.

Sincerely: Christopher Wray

Anti-fraud resources: