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: "Mr. Stuart A. Levey" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <stuartalevey@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 01:44:58 +0100
Subject: Consignment released

ATTENTION BENEFICIARY,

We received a mandatory notification, from the United Nation Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to release your consignment that was seized by the US customs and Boarder protection because the diplomat who brought the consignment from Africa was not able to provide Anti-terrorist certificate/Anti-money laundry clearance/Yellow tag. The consignment containing US$10,500,000.00 has been clear of every.

The consignment has been seal to be delivered to you and you are the only person that is allowed to have access to the consignment. You are now free to claim the consignment and pay your tax to the IRS after receiving it.

Before the consignment will be endorsed for final delivery to you, you are required to pay the demurrage fee for the accumulated demurrage by the consignment since it was abandoned here at the port of entry.

The fee you are required to pay has been calculated to US$657.00 and this fee must be sent to New York, USA before the consignment will be delivered to you.

Congratulation, in advance.

Thanks and God bless you.

Truly,

Mr. Stuart A. Levey.
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

Anti-fraud resources: