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. Matthew Joe" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fedexcourier@voila.fr>
Date: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 00:06:51 +0100
Subject: Dear valued customer your atm card.

Dear valued customer your atm card.
 
We have been waiting for you to contact us for your automatic teller machine (atm) worth the sum of $1,000, 000.00 (ONE MILLION UNITED STATES DOLLARS), but we did not hear from you, for a couple of weeks now. Then we went to the bank to confirm if the atm card has expired or getting near to expire and dr. Wilson  the director of spring trust bank plc told us that the atm card will expired on the 10/ NOVEMBER 2011.then we decided to contact you.
 
For your information, the delivering charge, insurance premium have been paid by the depositor of your parcel. So right now the only money you will send to the FedEx courier service to deliver your atm card direct to your current postal address in your country is ($107.00usd) only being for the security keeping fee and don't be deceived by anybody to pay any other money except $107.00 us dollars for the security keeping.
 
The depositor would have paid that but we said no because we don't know when you will contact us and in case of demurrage. Find below the details of the dispatch director who is in charge of your parcel.
 
Controller:  Mr. Matthew Joe
company's name: FedEx courier service
email address: fedexcourier@voila.fr
phone number: +234 704 141 0317
 
please try and reconfirmed your information with them to avoid wrong delivery.
 
Full names:………………
current address: ………………
direct telephone number:……………
 
if you are not sending the payment for the security keeping fee, don't reply to this email or reconfirm your details as this will only last for (7) seven working days and if you are not ready to make the payment before then, we are going to return the parcel back to the depositor, because the parcel have stay long with us.
 
We are going to send you your tracking number to enable you track your package over there and know when it will get to your address after the confirmation of the payment of $107 by our account officer.
 
You are to use either western union or money gram to make payment depending on the one close to you, and confirm the payment to us immediately for the dispatching of your package to your destination.
 
BELOW IS THE PAYMENT INFORMATION
 
 
NAME: CHARLES ABIODUN
ADDRESS: LAGOS NIGERIA
TEXT QUESTION: COLOR
ANSWER: GREEN.
MTCN:.......................... (FILL AND SEND)
SENDER'S NAMES :.............( FILL AND SEND)
AMOUNT SENT: $107
 
best regards,
Mark Williams
FedEx courier service
 

Anti-fraud resources: