419 scam: "Aaren Darwin"<chao.du@csst.com> YOUR STATUS

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

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:

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.
This email message is a next of kin scam.
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.
- statstrack@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: "Aaren Darwin" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <trackingyouservice1@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 21:26:34 +0200
Subject: YOUR STATUS

Hello,

My name is Ms. Aaren Darwin; I work with the Tracking You Service, a
consulting
Firm in London , UK . We are conducting a standard process investigation
involving
a client who shares the same name with you and also the circumstances
surrounding investments made by this client at HSBC Bank Plc.

The HSBC Private Banking client died intestate and nominated no next of
kin to
inherit the title over the investments made with HSBC Bank Plc. The
essence of
this communication with you is to request that you provide us information on
three issues:

1-Are you aware of any relative/relation having the same surname, whose last
known contact address was Madrid , Spain ?

2-Are you aware of any investment of considerable value made by such a person
at the HSBC Bank Plc.?

3-Can you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume status
of next of kin to the deceased?

You must appreciate that we are constrained from providing you with more
detailed information at this point. PLEASE RESPOND BACK TO MY PRIVATE AND
DIRECT EMAIL ADDRESS;
(statstrack@aol.com) as soon as possible to afford us the
opportunity to close this investigation.

Yours sincerely,
Ms. Aaren Darwin,
Tracking You Service,
For: HSBC Private Clients.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam