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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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Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: "MR. JOHN HARVEY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnharvey93@y7mail.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2012 02.35.18 +0200
Subject: READ AND GET BACK TO ME IMMEDIATELY

Attn: Beneficiary,
 
My name is Mr. John Harvey, an American diplomat working under the United Nations. I was newly assigned to head the diplomatic sector of the United Nation regional office in Africa and UK.
Your overdue payment has been delayed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Financial Services Authority. This was due to many irregularities found on the trace of the origin/source of your funds by the IMF international networking systems and World Bank Group.
 
After due investigation, the INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND has approved to release part of the funds to you in the amount of Four Million, Five Hundred thousand United States Dollars ($4.5MUSD) only from their United States Secure Diplomatic Transit Account (USDTA).
However, due to the long delay and the corrupt officials who keep on extorting money from you, I decided to proceed to complete the delivery of consignment out of Africa/UK so that it will be easy for you to handle. This is just my personal effort as I was embarking in an official assignment, delivering US ballot materials to our Head Office in New York.
 
You are advised to get back to me with your full contact details to enable process the delivery of your fund as I am going to have a little delay in New York before I go back to my station. Because of the delay and other reliant, I decided to deposit your Metallic Trunk Box which contains the fund in a UN Warehouse here in our Head Office in NY. So all you need to do now is to get back to me with description on how to locate you with your consignment.
However, bear in mind that you will stand to bear the cost of clearing your consignment from UN Warehouse here in NY which is $294 only, and this fee has to be paid directly to the agent in charge.
Confirm your direct contact details to me to avoid misdirection of funds.
 
FULL NAMES:
DELIVERY ADDRESS:
CLOSEST AIRPORT:
DIRECT CELL PHONE NUMBER:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
 
After the end of this transaction, that's immediately you confirm the receipt of your fund, then if you feel a man that has taken this risk to bring your long awaiting dream to reality needs to be compensated I will definitely appreciate and welcome it with a good heart.
Consider it necessary to call me to enable attend to your request urgently, but if you can't get me on phone please kindly leave a message for me to return your call as soon as am free to do so.
Thanks,
John Harvey.
UN Transit Diplomat.
Tel: 206-337-7879
 

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