419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "huge amount of money" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "trunk box" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.

Fraud email example:

From: "FBI AGENT MR.FRED DAVE" <fredavefbi@zing.vn>
Reply-To: freddave01@zing.vn
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 13:09:27 +0300 (IDT)
Subject: YOUR DRAFT OF US$15M IS IS READY FOR YOU
TO RECEIVE PLS GET BACK NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

US ANTI-FRAUD UNIT,
LAGOS,NIGERIA.

DEAR BENEFICIARY,

I am FBI SPECIAL DELIVERY AGENT MR. FRED DAVE, I was hired by the Federal Government of Nigeria to assist the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and States Security Service (SSS) to investigate and deliver all the abandoned transactions in Nigeria, it's on this process that I discovered your sealed Trunk Box, and when scanned it reviewed huge amount of money total US$15Million only.

The Trunk Box was intercepted and abandoned at the Airport storage room due to the Owner's Identification Claim Invoice was not issued on your name and tagged on the Box money. Also, the diplomat who convey the Box money ran away because he was unable to pay the fee for the Owner's Identification Claim Invoice, that is the reason why the Box was intercepted and abandoned.

Everything about your Trunk Box money is legal and genuine, but due to lack of Owner's Identification Claim Invoice the Box money was intercepted, this has made it impossible for you to received your overdue inheritance payment till now. But be rest assured that I am here to make sure that the Owner's Identification Claim Invoice is issued on your name and tagged on your Trunk Box for the immediate delivery to you as the original owner.

As FBI SPECIAL DELIVERY AGENT, I am the one who will deliver the Box money to you as agreed with the Federal Government of Nigeria who hired me. But before I perform the delivery the Owner's Identification Claim Invoice must be tagged on the Trunk Box money so that you can easily identify your Box and claim it when I come to meet with you at your home address for delivery, this is to avoid wrong delivery, because i have with me as many Boxes as possible to deliver.

Meanwhile, I have decided to help you and pay the fee needed for the Owner's Identification Claim Invoice, because I do not know if you are in a better position now to pay the fee. I can help you pay this fee only if you want me to pay on your behalf OK. Once I pay I will start coming with the Box money immediately to meet with you at your address for delivery. But bear in mind that you will pay me back the money when you receive your Box money.

It may interest you to know that your Box money has been approved and certified by United Nations (UN) so as to proof that you are the rightful owner of the said Box money valued US$15Million expecting to be delivered. I will send to you the copy of your proof of fund ownership certificate once I hear from you, then pay the fee for the Owner's Identification Claim Invoice on your behalf and proceed with the delivery immediately.

Most importantly, I want you to give me assurance that you will pay me back the money once you receive your Box money before I proceed.

To this end, please I need your personal telephone number and safety home address for easy delivery.

Best regards and Good luck as I await to hear from you on this regard.

MR. FRED DAVE
FBI SPECIAL DELIVERY AGENT.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam