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: "Francis Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bthompson@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 04:20:45 +0530
Subject: RE: MY SECERETARY IS WAITING

Hello,

This is for you to get in touch with my secretary and provide him with the correct deliverey address and beneficiary name that the certified bank draft will be issued on as I directed him to have it drawn in your power. It is valued at $2,5 million just as I promised to reward you after the financial transaction, though we could not complete it as I found a new partner who assisted me to complete the transaction but the above mentioned amount is what I have decided to reward you with.

Please reconfirm your address and name to enable my secretary to make corrections for the redirection of your bank draft as it must have been sent to a wrong information prior to my contacting you. The draft has been sent to you via UPS by my secretary but it was noticed by UPS that it was on a wrong information as you know that my secretary does not have your current information. Also I must have misplaced your email address as it has been long we communicated during my request for your assistance in the Multi-million-dollar transaction that I wanted to move out of my country.

Below is the illustration of the delivery as dispatched by my secretary:

The package left Lagos Nigeria on 02/07/2012 and since on the 21st of February, 2012 it has been in Louisville, Kentucky, United States awaiting custom clearance as I have been informed by the UPS regional office in Lagos.

All you have to do is send your correct information and delivery address to my secretary and a requested $100 redirection fee as UPS stated. Once you send the information to my secretary, inform him to have the bank draft issued to the correct beneficiary's name you will give him. Once you send him the fee and beneficiary's information, the bank draft will be returned from USA to enable him make the changes and register it for immediate delivery to your current address.

INFORMATION TO SEND TO MY SECRETARY:
Beneficiary's name.....
Delivery address....
Contact number.......

You can contact my Secretary on:
Mr. Thompson Brown
Tel:+234-815-111-6229
Email:bthompson@yahoo.cn

You can check the delivery status of your bank draft with UPS Online:

WWW.UPS.COM
TRACKING NUMBER: H8640250193

You are expected to treat this as a matter of urgency as I may not be communicating with you again due to the surgery and present health condition I am passing through. The doctor's advice is not hopeful.

Regards,
Mr. Francis Williams

Anti-fraud resources: