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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: "James" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lawrence.james@yandex.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2014 13:16:31 +0200
Subject: From IAH

Greetings,

My name is James Lawrence the Assistant director Inspection Unit/United Nations at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. During my recent withheld package routine check at the Airport Storage Vault I discovered an abandoned shipment from an Agent and when scanned it revealed undisclosed sum of money in Two Metal Trunk Boxes weighing 25kg each. These consignment was abandoned due to its contents as the consignment was not properly declared by the consignee as Money, rather it was declared as personal effect to avoid interogation and also the inability of the agent to pay for the United States Non Inspection Charges which is about $3,900 USD.

>From my investigation each of the boxes may contain more than $2Million to $3.5 Million each and the details of the consignment includes your name, your email address were tagged with the official document from the United Nations and also enclosed along with the Metal Trunk boxes. However to enable me confirm if you are the actual recipient of this consignment as the assistant director, I advise you to reconfirm your current Phone Number and Full Address, this will enable me cross check if it correspond with the address on the official documents including the name of nearest Airport around your city.
Please note that this consignment is supposed to have been returned to the United States Treasury Department as unclaimed delivery due to the delays in concluding the clearance process from the formal Agent, so as a result of this,
I will not be able to receive your details on my official email account. I will advise you send the required details to my private email address which is ( james.laws007@aol.com ) for quick processing and response. Once I confirm you as the actual recipient of the trunk box, I can get everything concluded within 3-6 hours upon your acceptance
and proceed to your address for delivery.

Lastly be informed that the reason I have taken it upon myself in contacting you personally about this abandoned boxes, is because I want us to transact this business and share the money since the consignment has not yet been returned to the United States Treasury Department after being abandoned by the agent. Immediately the confirmation is made, I will pay for the United States Non Inspection Fee of $3,900, and arrange for the boxes to be delivered to your doorstep Or I can bring them myself to avoid any more trouble. But my share will be 30% from the total sum and 70% for you.

Below is my direct telephone number but if you are unable to reach me then leave a message. I advise you send me an email because I will be checking my email from time to time. I will be on Inspection for the next few hours.

I await your response

Mr. James Lawrence
Tel: 946-0053

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