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: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Post_Office=AE?= <postageunitboards@post.com>
Reply-To: postageunitboard@post.com
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:48:08 -0800 (PST)
Subject: REGULAR MAIL POST


P {
MARGIN: 0px
}
UL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
OL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
 
                          Post Office -Cotonou Benin Rep.
                        
Address: 20/22    Hospital  Route
                         Cotonou Benin   
Republic
                          Tell:   (00229)
98124803
                           Telex : 53001 /
53120a
 
                           ATTENTION: MY
DEAR ,
 
     FROM REGULAR MAIL POST OFFICE BENIN
REPUBLIC.
DATE:11th/FEBUARY/2011. THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT THERE IS AN ATM
CARD IN THIS OFFICE DEPOSITED BY A PRIVATE ORGANIZATION BODY ON THE 29th OF
JANUARY 2011.
 
YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS WAS ATTACHED TO IT AND IT WILL  BE
POSTED TO YOU. WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU TO CONTACT US FOR YOUR CONFIRMABLE
ATM CARD WHICH CONTAINS THE SUM OF $1.5MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS AND SOME
VITAL DOCUMENTS. WHOEVER, KINDLY GET BACK TO THIS OFFICE(REGULAR MAIL POST
OFFICE BENIN REPUBLIC) TO AVOID FRAUDULENT ISSUES CONCERNING IN THIS SERVICE.
CONTACT PERSON:
 
      MR.OKA JOHN
     (postageunitboard@post.com)

Telephone (00229) 8124803
YOU ARE TO CONFIRM AND PROVIDE TO US YOUR
POSTAL ADDRESS BELOW.
 
YOUR FULL NAME..........
YOUR
COUNTRY............
YOUR POSTAL ADDRESS.......
YOUR DIRECT
PHONE........
YOUR ID....................
 
NOTE: THAT YOU ARE TO PAY
FOR THE  STAMP DUTY FEE THE SUM OF $50 USD.YOU ARE ADIVSE TO SEND THE STAMP DUTY
FEE THROUGH WESTERN UNION OR MONEY GRAM TO THE POST OFFICE WITH THE MANAGER'S
NAME BELOW AND FORWARD THE PAYMENT INFORMATION TO THE POST OFFICE EMAIL

 
  FOR IMMEDIATE STAMP OF YOUR POSTAL PAPER WORK AND THE IMMEDIATE
POSTAGE TO YOU.
 
Receiver Name.. Ugbanagu Oraegbunam
Country........Benin 
Republic
City........Cotonou
Question.... colour
Answer.....
Green
AMOUNT......$50 USD
 
FINALLY YOU
SHOULD BEAR IT IN MIND THAT EVERY CLAIMS HAS AN EXPIREING DATE (7) WORKING DAYS
.MEANHWILE YOU HAVE TO DO THIS VERY URGENTLY TO AVOID
EXPIRATION.
 
THANKS,
YOUR BEST REGARD
SAMUEL BEN.






Anti-fraud resources: