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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "consignment " (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)
- "cotonou" (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.
- 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.
- dmxdeliveryserv@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "scott" <scott@montgomeryprint.com>
Reply-To: dmxdeliveryserv@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2013 07:56:52 -0400
Subject: I am Mr. Alex Odoo, UN Diplomats Agent Cotonou Unit
Hello Good Day,
I am Mr. Alex Odoo, UN Diplomats Agent Cotonou Unit; This is to notify you that your consignments Package with consignment tag number BC59-01CB246 shipped under C CLASS CATEGORY B has arrived JFK International Airport New York City today. I am presently in JFK Airport trying to finalize with clearing process of your package but I’m having a little problem with US Custom Authorities here because they insisting on scanning your package which I was instructed against by my company. To this end i submitted my diplomatic Id to them as US diplomats, so any moment from now I will be through with the clearing process and as soon as that is done I will connect the next available flight to your location.
Therefore, I request that you reconfirm the following details immediately before I connect the next flight to your state.
Full name you are known with======
Address on where to delivery your consignment package (office or home address)=====
contact telephone/cell numbers (#) your id or passport identification and nearestairporttoyou======
Am waiting to receive it now please. Send it my private E-mail address: dmxdeliveryserv@yahoo.com
Thanks,
Mr. Alex Odoo.
UN Diplomats Agent
EMAIL (dmxdeliveryserv@yahoo.com)
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Anti-fraud resources:
