419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "insurance fee " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "security keeping fee" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- "fedex.express.delivery.services@w.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "fedex.express.delivery.services@w.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
1. They don't notify winners by email.
2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
7. They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348079193227 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: "FedEx Online Team Management."
<cmei-helciotrigueiro@salvador.ba.gov.br>
Reply-To: fedex.express.delivery.services@w.cn
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2010 08:32:27 -0300
Subject: Confirm Ownership Parcel

Confirm Ownership Parcel

We have a Parcel containing an International Cashier Bank Draft/Cheque worth
the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($800.000.00 USD) which will be
deliver to you at the moment as long as you provide all the requirement
information to the FedEx package company before the parcel can be shipped to
your own residential address in your country. Further more,you might be asking
yourself how come this email, cheque or draft,Anyway,your cheque was
brought to
our office by the Coca-Cola Bottling Company via a Lottery Fiduciary Claim
Agent, signifying that you are a rightful winner to their Lottery Award Promo
selected randomly which is powered by the South Africa Government. The
main aim
of this promo is to sponsor the on going South Africa 2010 World Cup and also
to advertise the Coca-Cola Bottling Company product. Your e-mail address was
among the Ten lucky email addresses which make your email address as
one of the
lucky email address and they have decided to send it to you true Federal
Express Delivery Service.

We have send you series of mail to inform you about the said parcel and and
also about the Insurance fee but we did not hear from you and we the Federal
Express Delivery Service has decided to send your parcel to you without you
paying for the Insurance fee but you will only have to pay for the
Airport Duty
Stamp fee with the sum of $520 us only in your Country to enable our delivery
man clear your parcel out of the Airport Custom in your Country and deliver it
to you safely in your given address. Winner this is the last mail that we are
going to send to you and if you do not respond to it we shall be left with no
other choice but to refer the package to the Nigeria Commission for Welfare Or
better still to Coca-Cola Bottling Company.

What you have to do now, is to contact our Delivery Department for immediate
dispatch to your residential address. For your information, the Delivery fee
and Security Keeping fee & Shipping charges as well as the Vat fees have been
paid by the Lottery Fiduciary Company.

Note:That your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes
it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted
to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the
prize and
hence must be provided by you because your an international winner,before your
prize is transferred to you.

FedEx Delivery Post Contact Person:
Mr. Kelvin Green
Tel: +234-807-919-3227
Email: {fedex.express.delivery.services@w.cn}

Do provide us with this information, and it's mandatory to reconfirm your
Postal address and telephone numbers to enable us commence with your delivery.

=========================================
DO PROVIDE US WITH BELOW INFORMATION
=========================================
FULL NAMES:
NATIONALITY :
OCCUPATION:
TELEPHONE:
DELIVERY ADDRESS:
STATE:
AGE:
COUNTRY:
SEX (M/F):
========================================

Kindly complete the above form and summit it to the delivery manager
at:(fedex.express.delivery.services@w.cn) As soon as your details are
received,
our delivery team will give It usually takes 24 hours being an over night
delivery service to deliver your Bank Draft to you after the above details has
been received by us.

Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Patricia Schoeman
FedEx Online Team Management.

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