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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.

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Fraud email example:

From: "REV ALFRED TIMOTHY" <alfred@revtimothy.net>
Reply-To: alfredp25@yahoo.de
Date: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 14:14:39 +0000
Subject: DEAR BENEFICIARY

THE UNITED NATIONS ORGANISATION
IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND
WORLD BANK FACT-FINDING & SPECIAL DUTIES OFFICE
LONDON - ENGLAND.
EMAIL:alfredp25@yahoo.de

Dear Sir.

I am Rev. Father Alfred Timothy a senior staff with the World Bank fact
finding & special duties office. I am writing you this letter because cool
penny is better than millions of dollars. It is better for one to live and
die poor honest man than a rich dishonest one. I and the chief security
officer (CSO) of this organization have arranged with an officer in computer
section engineer Gary Knightsbridge to bring out part of your total pending
payment sum amounting to US$10 million. Why we did this is because according
to information gathered from the bank’s/security computer, you have been
waiting for a long time to receive your money without success. As I found
out that you have almost met all the statutory requirements in respect of
your pending payment, your problem is that of interest groups. A lot of
people are interested in your payment and those people are merely doing
paper works with you and that explains why you receive fax and phone
messages from different people everyday. Also we found out that some of the
officials of the parastatals have been extorting a lot of money from you
with the pretext of helping you receive your money. I can assure you that
this may last for years yet nothing happens if you do not do away with those
officers that you call your partners. And for security reasons do not tell
anybody that you have your money until you receive cash at your door step.
Unclaimed billions: How much is yours?
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Banking/Betterbanking/P123123.asp?GT1=6704

The money is in a security-proof box weighing 75kg. Yesterday we went to
four courier companies to make arrangements on how to ship them by courier
to you. Dhl, ems, FedEx, ups all said that they must open the boxes for
inspection by the customs before shipment. This is something we want to
avoid because the box is padded with synthetic nylon and to open it, you
have to cut the pad before you will meet the button that you will press to
open the dial code-lock. There is no way you can open the box and be able to
close it again because it was padded with machine. We told the courier
services that the box contained film materials and when open will spoil the
materials. We did not declare money because courier does not carry money.

Today a friend of mine who is diplomat disclosed to me that there is a
security courier service they use to send diplomatic materials and
information from one country to another. It has diplomatic immunity and
consignment cannot be checked by any customs anywhere in the world. I have
met the officials of the security courier service and concluded shipping
arrangement with them, which they will commence as soon as i have your go
ahead order. The diplomat will help me so we do not have any problem. We
have concluded that you must donate Seven Hundred Thousand United States
dollars (US$700,000.00) to charity here in United Kingdom as soon as you
receive your money. To this effect, you will send us a promissory note for
Seven Hundred Thousand United States dollars (US$700,000.00) along with your
address for sending the box by courier.

Please maintain topmost secrecy as it may cause a lot of problems if found
out that we are using this way to help you. Do not ever tell anybody about
this until you have your fund in your possesion. I want to help you because
something in me is telling me that you are an honest person. When you
conclude this and you send our promise, we will help to ship the final part
of your money to you.
God be with us as we wait for your reply.

Yours faithfully,

Rev. Father Alfred Timothy.



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