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: "SGT.Ritchell Beck Brooklyn." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgt.ritchellbrooklyn@e-mail.ua>
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2013 07:25:07 +0800
Subject: VALUABLE BOXES READY FOR SHIPMENT.,PLEASE THIS IS TRUE STORY,NOT A JOKE

Dear Friend,

As you very well know, Afghanistan is gradually undergoing a rebuilding process in some parts and there is much need for reconstruction. My name is SGT.Ritchell Beck Brooklyn, I am a US citizen and was born in Queens County, New York in 1976. As a young girl I was a curious child. I lived in fantasy world half the time, and the other half I lived in a real fantasy world, the noisy streets of the upper west side Manhattan, NYC. After obtaining my qualification as a nurse I enlisted in the army in 1998. This year marks my 15th year in service. I am currently a member of the US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) Medical Team. I am a qualified nurse by training. I have been in Afghanistan since the beginning of 2010 after been re-deployed here from Iraq. In my years in the medical team, I have witnessed a lot of sad, horrific, mean and wicked action perpetuated by terrorist, religious bigots and Taliban. I am working on a book that would detail my experience when I eventually retire.

I have received several postings while here in Afghanistan. It is the most recent posting that has landed me a good fortune which I intend to share with you. After about 2 months in the new house I was allocated I noticed that there was a hidden door in the wardrobe that leads to an underground cellar. What I discovered in the underground cellar was quite revealing. As I proceeded in the underground cellar to take a closer look at what I saw from a distance I kicked a metal covering and found several metal boxes (6 in number) Piled on top of each other and locked with a padlock. On forcing the boxes open, I discovered several armored weapons including bullets. One of the boxes was filled with hard drugs (heroine) and two to my amazement was filled with money. Though this is not the first time this kind of occasion is taking place here in Afghanistan. I discovered two container boxes stashed with United States Dollars; I for hours counted bundles of the currencies which amounted to about $23.5M. I have handed

I intend to help myself. I have been weighing a lot of options on how best to secure these funds on my own, without the knowledge of the authorities. Since Afghanistan is getting unsafe and more dangerous everyday especially upon the departure of large number of US Military troop, I cannot afford to leave these boxes here in Afghanistan for any reason and knowing fully well that these were funds used in sponsoring terrorist attacks on our innocent humans. I have decided to act after two months because I just found out that I might soon be re-deployed out of my present location to the Helmand Province in Afghanistan. If this happens without me taking action on the money I have discovered I will forever live to regret my inaction as it is an opportunity for me to be financially solvent for ever. I need your help in order to make this a reality.

I have a Red Cross Officer whom I have known for over a year. We are fond of each other. I have had extensive discussions with him on helping me transport some goods abroad. He has agreed in principle to help me. The reason why I am bringing a Red Cross Officer into it is that Red Cross Officers have immunity. Whatever they carry or transport across countries are covered by diplomatic immunity. It cannot be searched or opened by anybody be it customs, police or secret service. The goods are often covered with Red Cross diplomatic seal. The goods will get to its destination without problems. Please be informed that I will not tell the Red Cross Officer the real content of the boxes. The Red Cross Officer will deliver the boxes to you. Using the Red Cross Officer makes this process completely risk free. This is where you come in. Your duties or responsibility will be to receive the boxes which contain the money from the Red Cross Officer. You are to keep it safely until I come to meet with you where you will r

I need someone I can rely on, someone who is frank and honest. Someone who will agree to assist me and be involved throughout the period the process will last. Someone I can count on to act as a genuine and an interested party. I want you to go through this email careful and get back to me. We can begin to discuss further details once I hear from you through email. For utmost confidentiality I will appreciate that all our communication are done through email. It will be dangerous to communicate through the telephone as phones are often wired or tapped, calls often traced or intercepted. This is one of the security precautions that we must take. I intend to include my ID's issued by the US army and government for you to know better whom you are dealing with but I will include that in my next email to you. Please assure me of your keeping this top most secret so that my job would not be jeopardized.

My Sincere Regards,

SGT.Ritchell Beck Brooklyn.
US ARMY,AFGHAN

Anti-fraud resources: