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: "Rev. Annie Mathew" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <anthonygarang46@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2010 03:58:34 -0700
Subject: Re: CONTACT FEDEX FOR YOUR VISA CARD

FROM THE DESK OF
REV ANNIE MATHEW
FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT,
 
Dear Beneficiary ,
 
Having reviewed all the obstacles and problems surrounding the transfer of your (USD$3.500,000.00) and your inability to meet up with some charges levied against you due to the past transfer options, We the Board of Directors, Bank Of Africa (BOA) has ordered our Foreign Payment Remittance Unit to issue you a CORPORATE VISA CARD where your payment will be uploaded and today, we got notice that your Payment has been uploaded into this CORPORATE VISA CARD and also have registered for delivery to you.
For your information, The delivery charges has been paid and they were supposed to have shipped your packaged VISA CARD but they insisted that you must re-confirm to them your current delivery address to ensure accurate Delivery.
 
MOST IMPORTANT: Due to the content of the package, FedEx mandated that before your package will be shipped, A Tax/Stamp Duty MUST be procured according to the New Customs Creed and the importance of such Document is to ensure a hitch-free delivery and the amount is $95.00 USD.
 
Therefore re-confirm your current delivery address and forward to FedEx E-MAILL BELOW.
1. Full Names----------
2. Delivery Address----------
3. Contact Mobile Number---------
4. Occupation----------
5. A copy of your ID-----------
 
NAME: DR. JOHN KENNETH
POSITION: FOREIGN DELIVERY DEPARTMENT.
E-MAIL: ( drjohnkenneth@gmail.com )
MOBILE: +2348029183001
 
Please hurry now as your package might incure demurrages if it stays more than 7days with FedEx.
 
Thanks,
 
Rev. Annie Mathew
For the Management (BOA).

Anti-fraud resources: