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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:
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "high court" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "federal high court" (This court is often mentioned in '419' scams to give the victim a reason why he/she should send thousands of dollars to the scammers. A 'Federal High Court' exists in Germany and Nigeria, but not in other countries, such as the UK, Spain, Netherlands, Senegal, Benin, South Africa or other countries where fake lawyers in scams often claim to be based. )
- "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: Unclaimed Fund <rhowills@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrs.zashmed52@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2023 21:17:46 +0100
Subject: Unclaimed Fund
Re - Change of Bank Account Details.
We noticed that your funds have been pending for a long time here in
Nigeria but our investigations revealed that your bank account details
were changed according to your power of authorisation by Mr. Jack
Murray through Federal High Court here in Nigeria. Mr. Murray said
that he is your next of kin that you asked us to deposit your fund to
his bank account.
He said that you have a new contract in Kansas City, Missouri and have
run out of funds hence you want us to immediately deposit your
approved compensation fund to the new account above. I am therefore
writing to find out if you are the one that authorised this new change
of account. This explains the reason why all your efforts to get this
Fund has proved abortive.
Due to the importance and sensitivity of this compensation, you are to
make the payment of $297 to avoid impostors like Jack Murray to
claim your funds because we want to make sure the funds transferred to
you are the original owner not impostors. If you want your funds to be
released to you, email me back to request the information where you
will make the payment of $297 so that your funds will be released
and also send your bank account information for transfer programming.
The fee for change of the account to yours from the Federal High Court
is $297 so you are to pay the fee so that you will receive your
funds only if you didn’t authorised him to do so, let me know so that
I will send you the information where you will make the payment so
that your funds will be transfer to your bank account.
You are hereby advised to fill your current information below to
enable us to reconfirm before making the transfer to your bank
account.
(1) Your full names,
(2) Address and company address if any
(3) Your mobile number
(4) Any means of identification (ID OR DRIVERS LICENSE)
Note: Your file will be forwarded to the Central Bank of Nigeria for
payment as soon we receive the payment of $297 from you.
I await your urgent response.
Yours faithfully,
Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed
Minister of Finance
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Anti-fraud resources:
