419 scam: "DHL EXPRESS DELIVERY"<dhldelivery@dhl.com> YOUR UNCLAIMED PARCEL, FROM DHLse Needed (asap)RESPOPŒë¸"

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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:

An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
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:
- "clearance 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. )
- "western union" (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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- "tax clearance" (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. )
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "tax clearance" (Tax offices mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. Even after you pay their fake tax demands you will still not receive the non-existent funds you have been promised. )
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
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.
- +2348039284683 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- dhl-delivery24-service24@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "DHL EXPRESS DELIVERY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dhl-delivery24-service24@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 05:15:33 +0100
Subject: YOUR UNCLAIMED PARCEL, FROM DHL

Good day:

My name is authur smith and I work for DHL COURIER COMPANY HERE IN CANADA

I am in custudy of a parcel that contains a bank draft wort 1.5million united states dollars,that belongs to you.

The parcel was delivered to the DHL BRANCH OFFICE were I work as the manager,this parcel was on it way to your destination and it was been sent from ABUJA NIGERIA,the reason why the delivery of the parcel was not been completed to your destination was that ,the parcel has been ordered from the head offcie DHL NIGERIA AND ALSO LONDON to be stoped due to the reason that the tax CLEARANCE fees has not yet been settled by the SENDER AND all our effort to locate him or her has been in vain,so we reasoned that it will be better to contact you the receiver,since your sender left with us your information and also your email address to be incontact with you on delivery of the parcel to you,So parcel was stoped because according to the dhl office in nigeria that any funds leaving there country that is above 200,000.00usd must have the tax clearance fees settled other it will be taged as illegal funds.

But I have been instructed not to proceed with the delivery as at yet because you will need to acquire a form ,that will be submited to the TAX CLEARANCE HEAD OFFICE IN ABUJA NIGERIA before the parcel can be released from my office to you.

So before your parcel will proceed from canada to your destination ,you have been asked to send to them the total of 190usd ,in other for them to help acquire the form for the tax clearance and also have it submited and afterwords you will have your parcel forwarded to you again.

You are required to send the total of 190usd to them in nigeria,as soon as you see this email to the information bellow via western union.

RECEIVERS NAME: ANDREW PETER
COUNTRY:NIGERIA
STATE:ABUJA
TEST QUESTION: RED
TEST ANSWER:BLUE
AMOUNT TO SEND:190USD

As soon as you have it sent you are adviced to forward me or call them dirrectly on +2348039284683 to provide the bellow information to them.

MTCN#
SENDERS NAME:
SENDER COUNTRY:

TO MY EMAIL ADDRESS(dhl-delivery24-service24@hotmail.com)

AND ALSO RECOMFIRM TO ME YOUR DELIVERY ADDRESS AGAIN SO I CAN RECORSS CHECK WITH THE ONE IN OUR RECORDS

so that I can forward it to them in nigeria asap,you will receive your parcel in less than 15hours after your the funds as been received

I seek your very urgent reply so i can resend your parcel to you.

Mr.AUTHUR SMITH

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam