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: " Mr. Fred Wesson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zenith1ng@superposta.com>
Date: Sat, 12 Oct 2013 04:39:57 +0100
Subject: Hello Dear,

Hello Dear,
 
I am Mr. Fred Wesson. I am the Chief Security and Inspection Officer at Diplomatic Cargo Facility of Seattle Tacoma  International Airport here in the State of Washington, United States of America. I supervise the operations of Department of Homeland Security, United States Customs, Quarantine and Border Protection Agencies here in the Airport.
During my general inspection few months ago, I discovered an abandoned cargo shipment in our facility here. Having being abandoned for long, I decided to scan the cargo with our newly acquired Ultra Modern High Resolution X-Ray Scanner to ascertain the content of the shipment. The scan revealed some undisclosed sum of new Hundred Dollar denominated bills neatly wrapped in water proof nylon and concealed in a metal box weighing approximately 120kg. On my estimation, the cargo contains about Three or Four Million United States Dollars neatly sealed in water proof nylon and packed inside the Box as scan revealed.
 
I initiated a private investigation to know the source, destination, purpose and reason of abandonment. I was shocked to discover that the money that was concealed in the box was actually part of your delayed payment which your partners were trying to divert using your name. I also discovered that the cargo was abandoned because the Airport Authority asked the shipping Agent to contact the consignor to provide the keys of the box for inspection as the documentation was not properly done. I believe the cargo was also abandoned because the content was not properly declared by the consignor as currency rather it was declared as Personal effects to avoid suspicion or diversion. Moreover, the documentation was vaguely done making it difficult to trace to anyone.
 
    Neither I nor any other staff of this Airport can unilaterally move this shipment out of this Cargo Facility without having any one who will stand as the recipient and apply for it as his or her missing cargo which he has been looking for since a year ago and have managed to trace it to our Airport. As the Chief Security and Inspection officer, I will approve and sign-out that the shipment has been inspected by me and that it contained personal effects before it will be released for delivery to you.
 
I am contacting you to seek your permission to route this shipment to you. I will guide you through every step and process till the cargo is delivered to you. Since I have established the reason for abandonment, I can guarantee that this deal is as good as closed. I will equally assure that there will not be any problem so long as you adhere to my advise. If you accept to work with me, I will arrange for the delivery of this cargo to your address as the rightful owner after you must have applied for the release to you. Upon delivery to your house, we shall use a welding machine to cut open the metal box and share the money equally between us. Please provide me with your SKYPE ID or YAHOO MESSENGER to enable us have a video chat. I hope to hear from you soonest.
 
    Mr. Fred Wesson
    Chief Security & Inspection Officer
    Diplomatic Cargo Facility
    Seattle Tacoma (SEA-TAC) International Airport,
    17801 International Blvd,Seattle, WA 98158
    Phone: (206) 497-3739

Anti-fraud resources: