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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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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.
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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "diplomatic delivery" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist 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: "Mr Harvey" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <usd500@live.com>
Date: Thu, 29 May 2003 06:32:57 +0100
Subject: CASH DELIVERY FROM SEATTLE
Attention:
After the just concluded United Nations summit held in Geneva regarding the first quarter payment of 2010,
Your funds are among the twenty others that were released and endorsed for immediate delivery to their
beneficiaries. The official approved mode of payment for this exercise is a "First class diplomatic delivery as
a result of scrutiny and diplomatic fraud checks.
Your payment will be made out from the United Nations diplomatic drop box in Seattle Washington United
States of America. Failure to respond to this notice within three days of the receipt of this notice will attract
a cancellation of this payment till further notice and we are advised to conclude this delivery within seven
business days as the United Nations will soon commence with their end of second quarter routine check
You are advised to re-confirm the below details to enable us cross-check with the ones we have in our files.
This is for us to be sure we are communicating with the right beneficiary to avoid misdirection of package.
FULL NAMES:
DELIVERY ADDRESS:
DIRECT PHONE NUMBERS:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
MARITAL STATUS:
SEX:
CLOSEST AIRPORT:
I will provide all the required details as soon as I confirm your understanding. The United Nations has
advised you to stop all correspondence with whoever that claims to be in possession of your funds.
Thanks for your understanding.
Mr. John Harvey
UN DIPLOMAT.
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Anti-fraud resources:
