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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: "MR JOSEPH SCOTT" <info@sender.org>
Reply-To: <ups_unitedparcelservice3@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2013 20:56:52 -0200
Subject: CONTACT THE U.P.S COURIER SERVICE NOW!!

Attn:
I am Agent Joseph Scott with the ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION (EFCC).
The ECONOMIC & FINANCIAL CRIME COMMISSION in alliance with Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) have been working towards the eradication of
fraudsters and scam Artists in Western part of Africa With the help of United
States Government and the United Nations.
We have been able to track down so many of this scam artist in various parts of
west African countries which includes (NIGERIA, REPUBLIC OF BENIN, TOGO, GHANA
CAMEROON AND SENEGAL) and they are all in our custody here in Lagos Nigeria. We
have also arrested all those who claim that they are barristers, bank officials,
Lottery Agents who has money for transfer or want you to be the next of kin. We
have been able to recover so much money from these scam artists. The United
Nation Anti-crime commission and the United State Government have ordered the
money recovered from the people to be shared among 1000 Lucky people.
This email is being directed to you because your email address was found in one
of the scam Artists file and computer hard disk in our custody here in Nigeria
and with the information gathered from this scam artist, we noticed that you
have been ripped of so much money and the organizing committee have decided to
compensate you with a little token to recover the lost of your fund. You are
therefore being compensated with the total sum $1,500,000, (One Million Five
Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).
Since your email appeared among the lucky beneficiaries who will receive a
compensation of $1.500,000 (One Million Five Hundred Thousand United States
Dollars), we have made arrangement to provide you with an ATM CARD that you will
use to withdraw your money in any part of the World, we have made an arrangement
with the UNITED PARCEL SERVICE (U.P.S) all you will have to do now is to contact
the UPS Office with  these Code Of Conduct (REF.57990W) to prove to them that
you are the rightful owner of the ATM CARD all you will do now is to contact
them through the email addresses stated below with your Code Of Conduct and also
your Full Name,Occupation,Home Address, Country,Gender,Calling Number
Full Name..........
Country............
Home Address.......
Gender.............
Occupation.........
Cell Phone.........
Age................
Please contact now for the delivery of your ATM CARD
Email : ups_unitedparcelservice@post.com
We guarantee your safety and wish you the best of luck.
Best Regard,
Joseph Scott,
Investigation Officer.
*************************************************************************************************************************************************************
Please note that e-mails, letters and phone calls are currently been made to
unsuspecting persons by fraudsters claiming to have access to their funds. Every
day, people throughout the world are falling victim to scams of one way or the
other. It could be an unexpected prize draw or lottery win, or a chance to
invest in an exciting new money-making or investment program . In the
circumstance, we unreservedly advice you to dissociate yourself from all
correspondence and transactions entered into based on evidently fraudulent and
fictitious claims.
*************************************************************************************************************

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