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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: "D.S.P Lekan Faniyi" <softt240@gmail.com>
Reply-To: hudev09@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 20 May 2022 07:41:10 -0700
Subject: RE:RECOVERY OF DIVERTED ATM DEBIT CARD

Nigeria Police Force Headquarter
Ken caleb House
Obalende Ikoyi
Lagos State, Nigeria.
Phone: 234-912-997-2630

Attn:

RECOVERY OF DIVERTED ATM DEBIT CARD

I am contacting you to personally notify you of our discovery as well as
get some facts from you. Recently we arrested a man named Francisco Zuela a
Ghanian Citizen who works with D.H.L office in Lagos with an ATM CARD with
your name on it as the beneficiary and the owner of the card. However the
entire parcel containing the proof of claim ownership which is also in your
name has so far been recovered from him.

After we arrested and interrogated him, he confessed as stated below. My
name is Francisco Zuela, I work with the D.H.L office in Nigeria. November
last year, I was approached by a lawyer about the diversion of a parcel
containing ATM DEBIT CARD belonging to YOU. which I agreed and then we
collaborated to divert the card to another address in your country from
where to be sure it confirmed entry into your country after which it was
return to Nigeria to avoid any suspicion.

Later we wrote to the Issuing bank as the beneficiary and with the help of
the collaborator, the risk and management department of the bank gave me
the pin code of the card. Since then I have been making withdrawals with my
collaborators until this week when the card was blocked by the bank that I
should contact the issuing bank. I have made withdrawals of about
USDUS86,800.00 within this period.

The above is the suspect' s confession and we have contacted the card
issuing bank who also told us that there was an initial complaint from the
beneficiary though the identity of the mentioned person was not disclosed.
They confirmed that there was an application from you to re-release the ATM
Card Pin upon receipt which directly was sent to an email with your name
but they are not aware that you have not received the card since you did
not inform them hence the card was diverted.

We would like to hear from you immediately to enable us carry out action as
well make arrangements for the ATM CARD $15.5million to be re-dispatched to
you without any delay upon reconciliation with the issuing bank. From our
secret investigation so far, we have confirmed that this suspect is in
collaboration with some officials of the bank to divert this CARD without
your knowledge which is confirmed in our Investigation. At this point, do
not communicate with anyone to avoid leakage of information until we are
able to arrest everyone involved.

Upon your response, we shall forward an official notification to the
Director Internal Regulatory Department of your country Consulate here in
Nigeria. And also you are to make a payment of $1260 for us to get back
your ATM CARD to you with insurance. We have to revalidate and insure the
ATM CARD everything will cost $1260 Get back to me with your phone number,
your current house address and a copy of your Identification Card.

Waiting for your Immediate Response.

D.S.P Lekan Faniyi
Lagos State
Force Public Relation Officer

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