joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: johnmark4@freenet.de
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:39:10 +0200
Subject: Contact the courier company for your package


My Dear,
Happy New Year.I have been waiting for you since regarding
your Cashier Bank Draft worth USD$1.5Million before I leave Cotonou
Benin Republic but you did not show face and I did not heard from you
since that time,then I went and deposited the Draft with EXPRESS
SECURITY & DIPLOMATIC COURIER COMPANY there in my country Benin
Republic.

Please for your informations,I travelled to Japan to see my
boss as he instructed me and will not come back till next month end,
Please You have to contact the EXPRESS Security & Diplomatic Courier
Company to know when they will deliver your package to you there in your
country,I have paid for the delivering charges and insurance fee.

The
only money you have to send to them is their security keeping fee which
is $95.00 Us Dollars to received your package I agreed with them that
you will pay the $95.00 Don\'t be deceived by any body because I paid
for the delivery fee before they accepted the Cashier Bank draft and was
told that after one week you will pay the Security keeping fee which is
only $95.00.Contact the DIRECTOR OF THE COMPANY with the informations
below:

Attn:Dr.Erick Akone
Address:BP 2005 Ste Ceceile Ave,
Cotonou
Republic Du Benin.
TEL:+22997395975
EMAIL:expresdiplomcourie@yahoo.fr

Try to contact them as soon as possible to avoid increasing the
security keeping fee.I gave them your delivering address but you have to
reconfirm it to them again to avoid any mistake in the delivering. Let
me know as soon as you receive your Cashier Bank Draft,And I am very
sorry for any inconvinence this might have caused you but remember that
it was\'nt my fault because I waited for you to come down before I was
called by my Director, The amount you have to send to them is $95.00
only.

Regards,
Sir John Mark
Secretary







Anti-fraud resources: